Jesus The Lamb

The use of the name "the Lamb" is characteristic of the Johannine writings.  In John 1:29 and 36, Jesus is described as "the Lamb of God" and in the former passage as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  In Revelations, the name "the Lamb" is used of Jesus no less than twenty-eight times.  In addition, Isaiah 53:7f is quoted in Acts 8:32.

"He was led as a sheep to the slaughter:
And as a lamb before his shearers is dumb,
So he openeth not his mouth."

In 1 Peter 1:19, the readers are reminded that they are redeemed "with the precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ". 

The underlying ideas of the name are sacrificial, but is would be wrong to suppose that everywhere they are precisely the same, ...but the most constant element is the idea that fundamentally the work of Christ for men is redemptive and sacrificial. 

...In Revelation two ideas are represented: that of Christ as an offering (5:6, 12; 12: 11; 13:8), and that of the Messianic Leader of men (5:6; 7:17; 14:1,4). ...These two ideas are merged in John's mind.  The Lamb who conquers is the Lamb who has given Himself up as a willing sacrifice.  The Son is a revelation of the Father on the stage of the world's history.  Hence, as the Father is supreme in power, He is supreme in love going forth in sacrifice.  Thus the principle of self-sacrificing love belongs to the essence of the Godhead.  This interpretation shows how closely the work and the person of Christ are related, and that, as in the other names examined, He must be understood from the divine as well as from the human side.

-excerpt was adapted from The Names of Jesus by Vincent Taylor pg 116-17

Jesus The Lamb - Pt 2

To understand what the title "Lamb of God" means, we should remember what God decreed after Adam and Eve had sinned. God decreed that the payment for sin is death and hell and that if the blood of a spotless sacrifice is not shed, there would be no forgiveness of sin. Thus, we read how Adam and Eve's second son, Abel, believed God, slaughtered a lamb and offered it to God on an altar as a sacrifice to cover his sin. When God saw the blood of the lamb, He annulled the punishment for Abel's sin, and judged him as righteous, because an innocent lamb had died in his place. Nevertheless, God also said that the blood of a lamb could not be accepted as a sufficient payment for sin forever, because the value of an animal and the value of a man are not equal. The lamb was only a shadow and an illustration of the holy Redeemer who was to come into the world and shed His blood to deliver sinners from God's righteous judgment.

Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah wrote how the Messiah would be "led like a lamb to the slaughter" as a sacrifice to take away our sins (Isaiah. 53:7). Thus, between the time of Abel and the time of the Messiah, all who believed God respected and participated in the sacrifices of lambs. Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon and all the prophets, and all who believed the Word of God, had the habit of presenting to God sacrifices of spotless lambs. In this way they were all looking ahead to the day when God would send down the final sacrifice, that is, the holy Redeemer, who would shed His blood as a sacrifice that takes away sin forever.

That is why when the prophet John saw Jesus coming toward him, he pointed to Him and said to his disciples, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" Thus did John make known to his disciples that this Jesus standing before them was the Messiah, "the Lamb" which God sent down from heaven, the Perfect Sacrifice of which all the prophets prophesied. Jesus is the holy sacrifice who came into the world to die in the place of the children of Adam so that God can forgive us of our sins forever!

-excerpt adapted from a sermon on The Lamb (http://injil.org/TWOR/)

Jesus The Lamb - Pt 3

"The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus." John 1:35-37

Why did the disciples of the prophet John  leave him to follow the Lord Jesus? They began to follow Jesus because they believed what John told them when he said that Jesus was the Messiah and the Lamb of God of whom all of God's prophets prophesied! Thus, when one of John's disciples, that is, Andrew, recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, he went to find his brother Simon Peter and said to him: "We have found the Messiah!!!" And when another disciple by the name of Philip recognized who Jesus was, he was overjoyed and told Nathaniel, his friend, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth!"

Yes, Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathaniel rejoiced greatly when they saw Jesus, because they knew that for thousands of years the prophets had been predicting the coming of the Messiah. Now they were seeing the Messiah with their own eyes! Praise be to God! The mighty Redeemer of whom all of God's prophets had been prophesying was in their midst! Praise God, at last, the Messiah had come! Thus, these four disciples of John began to follow Jesus, becoming His first disciples.

The Scripture tells us that John was a great prophet, even greater than the prophets who came before him. What made John greater than the other prophets? Here is the answer. All the other prophets proclaimed: "The Messiah is going to come! He will come! He will come!" However, the proclamation of the prophet John was: "The Messiah is here! His Name is Jesus! Look! The Lamb of God who will be killed to take away the sin of the world has come! Follow Him!"

-excerpt adapted from a sermon on The Lamb (http://injil.org/TWOR/)

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