Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

LAMB

April 8, 2010

John the Baptist calls Jesus "the lamb of God." Most of us are not experts on sheep, but I know my Bible just enough to understand what the Baptist means.

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 TNIV

Most Jews of Jesus' day when they saw a lamb knew at least two things: livestock and sacrifice. In other words, the lamb was to be food, and if not food, it was to be used as a sacrificial offering on special occasions at the Temple. When the Baptist points people to Jesus as the Lamb of God, he acknowledged, and announced Jesus' future: a sacrificial offering for the sins of the people.

Jesus as the lamb of God is a statement of faith by John, and by you and me. Yet Jesus is not merely our lamb of God. In his Revelation, John sees again the lamb of God, but this lamb is still much more: "Then one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed." (Revelation 5:5) The lamb of God, our lamb of God is also the triumphant Lion.
Joyfully,

Dale Patterson