Lamb of God

“Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.  To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. - Revelations 1:4-6

John greeted the Church as many of the disciples did back in biblical times.  He wished them grace and peace, all in the name of Jesus Christ.  He also makes an interesting point.  Because Jesus loved us (and still does of course), He sacrificed Himself for us.  In that process, our sins were washed with His blood, which was clean.

Now, before I go any further, I want to take a look into why Jesus was called the Lamb of God (John 1:29 – “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”

Often times when Christians hear the term “Lamb of God” we think of a cuddly baby lamb – a nice image, no?  But in actuality, when John called Jesus the Lamb of God in front of the crowd, the image was not a pleasant one.  Let’s look into how lambs were regarded during the Biblical times.

These days lambs are either pets or are used for food.  But their purpose served differently back in the biblical times, both Old and New Testament.  This next bit of info I got from a devotional called “Praying the Names of Jesus” (I recommend it by the way).  I’ll just paraphrase what the author wrote about.

In the Old and New Testament, the sacrificial system provided a way for God’s people to approach Him.  As an animal was offered, its blood was shed and its flesh was then burned at the altar.  If an animal was completely consumed by the fire, the sacrifice was called a “holocaust.”  If only a part of the animal was burned, it was considered as a “peace offering.”  The peace offering was intended to restore communion with God.

The people who offered sacrifices understood that the animal being sacrificed was a symbolic representation of themselves and their desire to offer their own lives to God.  The sacrificial system was actually a way that the Hebrew Scriptures represents God’s way of instructing us about what it means to approach a holy God.

The lamb was actually the principal animal of sacrifice.  Two were offered each day – one in the morning and one in the evening.  On the Sabbath, the offering was doubled.  Lambs (or other animals) were also sacrificed on the first day of the new month.  They were also sacrificed on such feasts as Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonements, and Tabernacles.  They were also sacrificed in cleansing ceremonies after a woman gave birth and after the healing of a leper.

To the Jews, the lamb represented two things.  Innocence and gentleness.  The sacrifice of a lamb was meant to represent the purity of intention of the person or people who offered it.  Therefore, they had to be without physical blemishes.

The phrase “Lamb of God” is only found in John’s Gospel, though Jesus is often referred to as “the Lamb” in the book of Revelation.  It is there where he is portrayed as the Lamb who, though slain, yet lives and reigns victorious.

Let’s take a look at John.  He was the son of a priest.  That means that he knew and was familiar with the sacrificial system.  He knew the horrors of the sacrifices – the blood, the bleating, the odor of burning animal flesh mixed with incense.  So why then, with the images that “the lamb” conjured up in the people’s minds, did John use the phrase “Lamb of God?”

Jesus, the Lamb of God, was the ultimate sacrifice.  He was innocent and without sin.  He was everybody’s lamb.  He died for us so that our sins would be permanently taken care of, and because He loves us.

Back to the verses in Revelations.  Jesus, who was pure and loved us more than we could ever imagine, died for us.  He washed our sins with His blood.  After His sacrifice, we were then made kings and priests in the kingdom of God.  We are all stewards, and have responsibility to be witnesses for Him through both our words and actions.  This brings me to my next verse.

“For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a love of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.” - Titus 1:7-9

We are called kings, bishops, and priests.  We have a responsibility to be a light amongst those in the dark.  It is true that because we are humans, we cannot be perfect.  Nevertheless, we must strive for perfection.  We must strive to be like Jesus.  I love this set of verses, because it tells us what we should be doing.

I tend to not talk as much as other people, but rather observe my surroundings – both places and people.  I’ve noticed that there are many people who seem to think that they are Christians.  However, so often their words and actions show otherwise.  I think that we, as Christians, are somewhat lost with what we should say, in how we should act, things that we tend to do on a daily basis, and decisions that we make.

As my dad once said, “How much are [you] willing to give up in order to have a better relationship with God?”  He makes a very good point.  Christians have allowed themselves to lower their standards for their life styles.

So often we allow profanities to escape from our lips.  So often we will watch movies with profane words, sex scenes, or violence in them.  So often we will listen to music by secular bands that may be good or not, depending on the lyrics.  So often we will find ourselves in compromising situations due to the people that we hang out with.

R. A. Torrey once said that “The world has yet to see what God will do with a man who is fully committed to Him.”

I can’t say that I know how you should act.  All I know is how the Bible tells us how to act.  But maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe most Christians are fine with where they are at in their relationship with God.  Maybe they don’t want to grow closer to Him.  Maybe they don’t care how powerful their words and actions can be to both Christians and non-Christians.

All I know is that I want an amazing relationship with God.  I am willing to give up things if that means growing closer to Him.  As I have realized before though, I know that I would not be so willing to do something dangerous or heroic if He asked me to.  I only hope that I will one day be in the place where I would be willing to give up my life for a complete stranger if it means that my sacrifice would show them God’s love.