Jesus: Lamb of God

“the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” - so said John (the baptiser) of Jesus. 

 

Jesus is not recorded calling himself God’s Lamb. Others describe him that way.  It is easy to think of a lamb as a harmless and hapless victim. But, there is more ....

 

In the graphic final Bible book - Revelation - we see a lamb, though slain, now victorious and mighty; no more the Lamb for the slaughter.

Jesus did refer to himself under the imagery of God’s suffering servant and rescuer. See how much he loved/loves us.

Calling Jesus the “Lamb of God” is uncommon in the Bible - the phrase is found only early in John’s Gospel, just the twice. Here is the passage in full.
John spoke about him and shouted, “This is the one I told you would come! He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born.”
Because of all that the Son is, we have been given one blessing after another.[a] The Law was given by Moses, but Jesus Christ brought us undeserved kindness and truth. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is truly God and is closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like.
The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and temple helpers to ask John who he was. He told them plainly, “I am not the Messiah.” Then when they asked him if he were Elijah, he said, “No, I am not!” And when they asked if he were the Prophet,[b] he also said “No!”
Finally, they said, “Who are you then? We have to give an answer to the ones who sent us. Tell us who you are!”
John answered in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am only someone shouting in the desert, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord!’”
Some Pharisees had also been sent to John. They asked him, “Why are you baptizing people, if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?”
John told them, “I use water to baptize people. But here with you is someone you don’t know. Even though I came first, I am not good enough to untie his sandals.” John said this as he was baptizing east of the Jordan River in Bethany.[c]
The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said:
Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I told you about when I said, “Someone else will come. He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born.” I didn’t know who he was. But I came to baptize you with water, so that everyone in Israel would see him.
I was there and saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven. And the Spirit stayed on him. Before this I didn’t know who he was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water had told me, “You will see the Spirit come down and stay on someone. Then you will know that he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” I saw this happen, and I tell you that he is the Son of God.
The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him. When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Here is the Lamb of God!”  (John 1:15-36, CEV)

Jesus, said John here, is the one who takes (present tense) the world's sin away. Does that wonderful news sound like God's unlimited plan for removing the sin? ("Sin" is that rebellion against God which blemishes our entire "world".) What an incredible explanation of Jesus, that as the Lamb he takes away the sin of the world. The world? How did John reach that understanding? It seems to be unique. A majestic and precious truth.

However, the Gospel writer actually does not see Jesus' work as something God has made irresistible and unlimited. Not many lines earlier we read: He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own,[a] and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[b] full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,[c] who is close to the Father’s heart,[d] who has made him known.  (John 1:10-18, NRSV). The "world" is people; people have an option; people make a choice; people can know God; some did not accept him; some (all who did) became children of God. And so it is.

Jesus later gave his adherents a very serious and terrifying “lamb” task: And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:2-16, ESV) Like lambs they were to represent him in even hostile settings. Some would reject them - and rejection has terrifying consequences for the rejecters. (That “lamb” word does not occur elsewhere in the GNT.)
 
Apart from "Revelation" (the last book of the New Testament [NT]), the word "Lamb" is not explicitly applied to Jesus. However, there are points of contact.

The same "lamb" word is used in the Greek Bible of Isaiah (53:7), words which definitely are quoted in the New Testament book of Acts and there surely connected to Jesus: Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter.
    And as a lamb is silent before the shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.
He was humiliated and received no justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”[a]
The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus (Acts 8:32-35, NLT). Philip explained to the man (the eunuch) about Jesus. We are not explicitly told here that Philip equated Jesus with that Lamb led to the slaughter. Is it implied? In some way the passage definitely depicts Jesus and his work. Surely the striking chapter from Isaiah influenced the later writers (the text is below).

That "lamb" word is clearly applied to Jesus in this passage: You were rescued[a] from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don’t last forever. You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb (1 Pet 1:18-19, CEV). So the writer reminds the gathered hearers (readers) that their rescue, or ransom, or redemption, flowed from the shedding of the blood of the innocent lamb, God’s lamb.

In other writings, using a different word, Jesus is explicitly equated with the Lamb of God:
Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7, NIV). The word there is the same one used by Luke in his report of the “Last Supper” - see below.

Near the crucifixion of Jesus we read about a sacrificial lamb, which was consumed in a memorial meal: Now the festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was near. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus[a] to death, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve; he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray him to them. They were greatly pleased and agreed to give him money. So he consented and began to look for an opportunity to betray him to them when no crowd was present. Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus[b] sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.” (Luke 22:1-8, NRSV). In literal terms the word used for "Passover Lamb" is "the Passover", which involved the death and butchering of a victim, a lamb. Jesus and his followers were preparing to share a Passover meal. All three Synoptics put it so. His crucifixion chronology presents a challenge for we find Jesus being arraigned in front of Pilate prior to the Passover (John 19). That would be close to the time the lambs were killed in the temple. All Gospels agree that Jesus' crucifixion was closely related to that final Passover.

Recall what Jesus said earlier: just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, CSB). Jesus gave his life. It would only have been understood later that his death was a sacrifice.

The letter called 1 Peter has this: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (2:24, ESV). It is evident that eternal benefits flow from Jesus' death, here and now and hereafter.

Jesus portrayed himself as a shepherd who gave his life for his sheep. The NT writers present Jesus as the sacrificial lamb. The death of the Lamb of God is effective for the removal of earned judgement from God.

But now the Lamb must receive humble reverence. The graphic final New Testament (NT) document has many references to the Lamb, who is central and identifies with the One who sits on the Throne. A heavenly choir is portrayed with the Lamb: When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. They sing a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God
    saints from[b] every tribe and language and people and nation;
you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving[c] our God,
    and they will reign on earth.” (Revelation 5:8-10, NRSV). The true people of God have been ransomed from every place by the blood of this Lamb, and turned into a Royal Priesthood. The document has many more mentions of this Lamb, including: For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; he will guide them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 7:17, CSB; see especially chapters 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 21.  Jesus is the one shepherding his people from the Throne. He is the one whose sacrifice of himself once offered has opened the way of salvation; he is also the living and unfailing Shepherd of his people. He is also Judge of the whole earth.

That book (Revelation) looks forward to the Lamb in a changed role: Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us[a] from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their[b] wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:15-17, NIV). As I write this the application to the "princes", and the "rich", and the "generals", etc, must seem so late in coming... So much harm done to so many by those who may benefit. However, the author has "everyone", even the slave, needing deliverance from that wrath. The need can be met in Jesus, the Lamb of God. He takes care of it, for those who will allow him.

A note: The ancient world practised flesh sacrifice as a matter of course. It was a familiar part of the culture. It included human sacrifice in some places and societies, even child sacrifice. Jesus' people were very familiar with their sacrificial system, which was regulated and administered under their Old Testament (OT) law. The priests of the temple were appointed to the responsibility for the Jews of Israel. Their prophets warned the People against "magical" thinking; thinking that the shedding of blood would do the trick, regardless of the apparent worshipper’s heart and life.

In more recent times I can sadly cite Nazi (medical doctor) Joseph Mengele. He was able to sacrifice captive children (1943-1945) to warped "medical science". Readiness to take the lives of others (ie, sacrifice them) is seen in war, in crime, in terrorism. We are troubled to see such action in our name and to acknowledge the uncomfortable fact that precious life may be spilled with little sign of qualm. Health and happiness may be removed by human action.

The "sheep and lamb" chapter again from Isaiah:

Who has believed our message?
    To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
    like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
    nothing to attract us to him.
He was despised and rejected—
    a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
    He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
    it was our sorrows[a] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
    a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
    crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
    He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
    the sins of us all.
He was oppressed and treated harshly,
    yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
    And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.
Unjustly condemned,
    he was led away.[b]
No one cared that he died without descendants,
    that his life was cut short in midstream.[c]
But he was struck down
    for the rebellion of my people.
He had done no wrong
    and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
    he was put in a rich man’s grave.
But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
    and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
    he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
    and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
    he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
    my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
    for he will bear all their sins.
I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
    because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
    He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels (Isaiah 53, NLT).
Surely that is an extraordinary passage which, long before the eunuch, must have caused people to be really puzzled.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-02/witchcraft-child-sacrifice-uganda-victims/11248026

http://faculty.uml.edu/whitley_kaufman/childsacrificehandout.htm

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-cult-of-moloch

Scripture quotations marked (CSB) are from the Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved
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Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
Note 1: I retain in the publishers' text where they occur the references [ ] to footnotes, but usually not the notes. You can check footnotes out by viewing the text on-line. Often they are replicated in different translations.
Bible passages accessed via BibleGateway.com
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Note 2: The Greek language of Jesus' day had different words for "lamb", on the surface, size or age related. The Bible texts use various "lamb" words. Those distinctions underlie my groupings above.