Jesus is the Lamb of God
The Gospel writer John (one of the 12 disciples) records that it was John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus, who gave Jesus the title of, “Lamb of God.” This symbolism would have been readily understood by any Jewish person.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
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!”–John 1:35-36
The lamb, as a symbol of Christ, has its roots in the Old Testament. For centuries the Jews worshipped God by sacrificing animals. A lamb was the main animal of sacrifice. Every morning and evening, a lamb was sacrificed in the temple for the sins of the people (Exodus 29:38-42).
These daily sacrifices, like all others, were simply to point people toward the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The whole sacrificial system established in the Old Testament by God set the stage for the coming of Jesus Christ who is the perfect sacrifice God would provide as atonement for the sins of His people.
“For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” -Romans 8:3-4
In Isaiah 53:7 a prophecy about the Messiah states, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
In 1 Peter 1:18-19, we are told, “You were ransomed . . . not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb.”
The Book of Revelation speaks of the Lamb at least 29 times. The Lamb is Revelation’s defining title for Christ. It is through His death on the cross as God’s perfect sacrifice for sin and His resurrection three days later that we can now have eternal life if we believe in Him.
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“…THESE ARE WRITTEN THAT YOU BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD, AND THAT BY BELIEVING YOU MAY HAVE LIFE IN HIS NAME.”
