 |
| ...A LOOK AT THE LAMB OF GOD |
Growth and development in any
religious tradition typically proceed by the progressive expansion of once
minor motifs and the corresponding neglect of once major ones. The expansion of
the lamb motif is an extraordinary example of this process. This idea of the
‘Lamb of God’ is a feature that runs throughout the history of redemption. The
New Testament, in fact Christianity itself, is an interpretation of the death
of Jesus in the light of the Hebrew Scriptures.
By the 4th Century, no
motif, including that of the cross itself, is ,more prominent than that of the
Lamb, and none is presented in more highly interpreted, content ways. The Lamb
is often seen holding pennon of victory crooked in one of its forelegs.
Why the Lamb? Taken as a vision of
the end of time, the book of Revelation seems to pair with the book of Genesis
as the end pairs with the beginning. But the central preoccupation of the
Scriptures is not with temporal beginning and endings. It is rather with
histories of betrayal, revenge and oppression, on the one hand, and histories
of covenant, fidelity, forgiveness and liberation, on the other. If human
history in general is an endless cycle of violence, one crime begetting another
and another, how can the cycle ever be broken? It is possible, if and only if
God pays the ultimate price in a sacrificial, atoning death. The Son of God,
who is himself God, became the sacrificial lamb. Christ was not only a
sin-offering, but an atonement offering, a forgiveness offering, and even a
thank-offering. And then that offering of Jesus of himself, as we will see, as the Lamb of God, becomes the
centre of the Christian worship. But as we think about Abraham and Isaac, we
have that expression: “Where, my father, where
is the lamb?” Where is
the Lamb? And Christians will answer: “God will provide the Lamb” and that is
why it is called “God will provide.” The lamb that he provides is his own Son.
When God asks the father of faith to sacrifice his son, he does not allow
him to do it, but God sends his own Son as
the Lamb to be sacrificed.
THE
OLD TESTAMENT IDEA OF “LAMB OF GOD”:
In
order to understand who Christ was and what He did, we must begin with the Old
Testament, which contains prophecies concerning the coming of Christ as a
“guilt offering” (Isaiah 53:10). According to the Law of Moses, the Jewish
people offered animal sacrifices to God to atone for their sins. This was a
temporary solution for the problem of sin, and sacrifices needed to be offered
periodically to keep Jews in a right standing before God. One of the animals
commonly sacrificed was a lamb. In fact, the whole sacrificial system
established by God in the Old Testament 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 (Romans 8:3; Hebrews 10). The lamb is a figure of innocence
(Isaiah 53: 7; Jeremiah 11:19) and of righteousness (Psalm 119:176)
The
sacrifice of lambs played a very important role in the Jewish religious life
and sacrificial system. The Lamb of God is certainly prefigured in the
Passover. When God prepared to bring His final plague on the Egyptians, the
death of every firstborn male of the Egyptians, including the crown prince of
the Pharaoh, He instructed His people to slay lambs without blemish and to
spread the blood on their doorposts. God promised to pass over all the houses
where He saw the blood of the lambs on the doorposts (Exodus12:3–13). Just as the blood of those lambs caused the people
of Israel to be spared from God’s wrath, the Lamb of God redeemed His people
from the penalty that was due for their sin. C. K. Barrett and Leon Morris are
of the view that all the ordinances and institutions of Judaism in the Old
Testament ideas were perfected by and amalgamated in Jesus the Lamb of God, so
the title does not refer to any specific lamb but is the victim who fulfils all
the entire sacrificial system foreshadowed.
Another
important sacrifice involving lambs was the daily sacrifice at the temple in
Jerusalem. 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 towards the perfect sacrifice of Christ on
the cross. In fact, the time of Jesus’ death on the cross corresponds to the
time the evening sacrifice was being made in the temple. The Jews at that time
would have also been familiar with the Old Testament prophets Jeremiah and
Isaiah, who foretold the coming of One who would be brought “led like a lamb to
the slaughter” (Jeremiah 11:19; Isaiah 53:7) and whose sufferings and sacrifice
would provide redemption for Israel. Of course, that person was none other than
Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God.”
THE
NEW TESTAMENT IDEA OF “LAMB OF GOD”:
One
of the descriptions of Christ in the Bible in which we see Him as our Saviour
and Redeemer is “Lamb of God.” This description is mentioned twice in the Old
Testament, but many times in the New Testament—29 times, primarily in
Revelation. The first New Testament passage in which “Lamb of God” is used is
in John 1:29. Here when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming, he said to His
disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He
was prophesying of His sacrifice for us on the cross, that through His death
our sins would be taken away (if we believe in Him).
This
singular title probably arises from a combination of the application to Jesus
of the Servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 53:7) and of the Passover lamb (John 19:36).
For J. Jeremias, the title ‘Lamb of God’ arises from a mistranslation of the
original Aramaic talyā’, which means both lamb and slave, and that the original
saying was ‘Here is the Servant of God’, an allusion to Isaiah 53:1ff.
A second New Testament passage is 1 Peter
1:18-19. Here Peter speaks to us of the blood of the Lamb, which redeems. Lastly, in the book of Revelation “Lamb” was mentioned 27
times, referring to the Lamb of God. Indeed, this title seems to be the focus
of the book—that He is God’s Lamb, a perfect sacrifice and payment for our
sins.
While the Passover celebration informs and adds to
our understanding of Jesus as a sacrificial lamb, it does not contain within it
the fullness of atonement theology. Emphasis on Jesus as a Passover lamb is
minimal in the New Testament in comparison with the broader emphasis on Jesus
as a sacrificial lamb, and even more broadly as the fulfilment of the whole
Mosaic sacrificial system.
Jesus
is this Lamb led to the
slaughter, the Sheep who does not open his mouth, the Man of sorrows, the
suffering Servant, afflicted, wounded, rejected, yet innocent, righteous,
mocked, ridiculed, ugly to look upon, hanging on the Cross in his exaltation,
acquainted with grief, smitten, afflicted, wounded for our transgression, because of our transgression.
Here you have Jesus as this suffering Servant-Lamb.
CONCLUSION:
We
see in the Lamb of God the themes of The Servant of Yahweh, The Paschal Lamb
and the Heavenly Lamb. There are several passages in the Sacred Scriptures where
Jesus is referred to as ‘Lamb’, or the ‘Lamb of God’. When Jesus was killed on
the cross, He became the final and ultimate atonement sacrifice. Peter calls
Jesus, "a lamb without blemish or defect" (1 Peter 1:19) and Paul
calls Jesus the "Passover Lamb who has been sacrificed" (1
Corinthians 5:7). When John the Baptist sees Jesus walking toward him for the
first time, he exclaims, "Look, the Lamb of God!" (John 1:36).
Throughout much of the book of Revelation, Jesus is referred to as a Lamb.
Angels proclaim, "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and
wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!" (Revelation
5:12). The believers of Jesus are called
lambs (John 21:15) of whom Peter is to be the shepherd; the figure of shepherd
as ruler is common in the Old Testament.
In
the final analysis, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God (1 Peter 1:19). There are texts
that point directly to Jesus as the ‘Lamb’ or “Lamb of God” while others make
allusions to Him as the ‘Lamb’ or “Lamb of God” but did Jesus state
categorically that “I am the lamb of God”?
REFERENCE LIST
Barrett, C. K. The
Gospel According to St. John. London: SPCK, 1962
Brown, Raymond. The Gospel According to John. The Anchor
Bible: Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1970
Jeremias, Joachim. Pascha, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans, 5:900, 1967.
Lamb, Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol 4: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
New York, 1992
Leon, Moris. Reflections
on the Gospel of John, Vol. 1: Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1986.
McKenzie, John L, Dictionary of the Bible: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. New York,
1974.
Miles R. John.
www.catholic-resources.org/Bible/Christological_Titles/ Christological Titles in the New Testament.
Retrieved 8-01-2016
No comments:
Post a Comment