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Jesus as the Lamb

For thousands of years the vast majority of lambs that have been born on this planet have suffered the same fate, killed and consumed as food either by predators or by people. Lambs are not exceptionally useful for anything else. A few lambs are kept for their ability to grow wool but this only extends their lives by a few years. All in all, lambs don’t have a very promising prognosis. Most lambs that are consumed in our generation meet their end rather unceremoniously - just one among thousands passing through the butcher shop.

In Jesus’ time, many lambs were sacrificed for ceremonial purposes. The death of the lamb was focussed on its spiritual significance regardless of its eventual destination. Those options were a) it may be entirely consumed on the altar as a burnt offering or b) divided between the priest and the offerer to be used as food.

The idea of animal sacrifice for sin is so foreign to us now that we likely miss the significance of Jesus' identification as a lamb. Indeed, most urban dwellers make no connection between the plastic wrapped meat in the supermarket and the animals they see in the fields on their infrequent trips to the country. Because of this, the idea of animal sacrifice has become repugnant. We’ve forgotten that animals are routinely sacrificed for human consumption.

Certainly at the time when John declared of Jesus, “Behold the lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world,” His hearers would have had a much stronger link with the sacrificial reality associated with animal life. Carcasses in the market place would remind them of this. What’s more, the ceremonial purpose for lambs as a sacrifice would have been a common, if not an daily, aspect of life. John had this in mind when he made his famous declaration and it would have been foremost in the minds of his hearers.

At that time, the lamb’s life was taken in exchange for its owners’ - a life for a life. The lamb served as a substitute. Sin demanded death, but if the lamb died for a specific sin then the sinner could go on living.

This changed when the Lord Jesus Christ became “the Lamb of God.” No longer was the death of an animal a substitute for the sinner. Jesus died for all sin and when we identify with Him and accept His sacrifice on our behalf, then all of our sin can be forgiven. It is not just covered over as the blood of the lamb covered the sin of the offerer, but actually removed. The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus’ sacrifice was far different than the sacrifice of the thousands of lambs that happened before His death in this respect.

Hebrews, chapter 10 has a lot to say about this. The chapter begins with these words: “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming - not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. [Hebrews 10:1-4]

When we relate to Jesus as the Lamb of God, we have to do so in recognition that He was the substitute for us. He took our place, died our death and, in return, we live His life. His intervention on our behalf was so profound, so complete, that nothing more needs to be added nor can be added.

Ron Hughes
© July 2006