Dear friends, today let's consider this term - "LAMB OF GOD."  It's usually a church term.  It is used in the Bible to denote only our Lord Jesus.  No one else is known as the Lamb of God in the Bible except Jesus of Nazareth.  Though we associate this term with the Liturgy or hymns, today it is used for much more.  Today there are several Lamb of God Lutheran churches.  There is a Lamb of God Christian magazine, a Lamb of God ministry and even a Lamb of God Christian Rock band.  And, of course, go online and you'll find several Lamb of God websites out on the internet.

          But to concentrate on its real meaning we must look at the main message of the Bible.  I think you know it: God created the world perfect, but it soon became lost.  God must punish sin, so He sent His son to take our sin upon Himself to satisfy the law of God.  Jesus Christ was obedient to the law, and yielded Himself up to be the death penalty, to take our place.  He who the Father loved beyond all else came to earth as a man, and, as a true man was obedient unto death on the cross.

          It is He who is called in our text the "Lamb of God," the one and only sacrifice for our sins.  There is no putting away of sin without sacrifice, and there is only one true Sacrifice that can put away all sin, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is son of Mary, but also Son of God.  He yielded up His life, the Just for the unjust, the Sinless for the sinful, that He might bring us to God, and reconcile all people to the Father.  That is the story, and "whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

          You and I do not know everything about the Lamb of God.  We know He is there, and we know we want to be with Him.  Jesus Christ is the Lamb and He is also the Good Shepherd.  We are always the imperfect sheep, but we are guided by the perfect lamb.  And we look forward with joy to the day we shall see Him face to face.

          A very sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave.  The patient said, "Doctor, I am afraid to die.  Tell me what lies on the other side."  Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."  "You don't know?  You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?"  The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog leaped into the room, eager to see the doctor.  Turning to the patient, the doctor said, "See my dog?  He's never been in this room before today.  He didn't know what was inside.  But he knew his master was in here, and when the door opened, he ran in without fear.  I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing... my Master is there and I want to go to Him, and that is enough."

          We see the term, Lamb of God, all throughout the Bible.  First we hear of it through Abel, son of Adam and Eve.  Abel gave God his lamb of sacrifice and God accepted it.  His brother Cain's sacrifice was rejected, and so Cain killed Abel out of jealousy.  Then there is the lamb offered by Abraham.  God told him to offer his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice, and when Abraham in faith showed he was willing to give God his most beloved son, God provided a sacrificial lamb instead.  The future of the world was saved by a sacrificial lamb.

          The greatest example of the Lamb of God in the Old Testament came in Egypt.  God's enslaved people were given their freedom through a lamb.  After nine plagues only seemed to entrench Pharoah in keeping the Jews as slaves, the tenth plague, killing all the firstborn, changed his mind.  And only the blood of the sacrificial lamb smeared on the doorposts of the houses saved the Jewish firstborn.  As the blood of the sacrificial lambs released the Hebrews from slavery to Egypt, so the blood of Jesus, the true Lamb of God, releases the whole world from slavery to sin.  Jesus Christ is the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

          John saw Jesus and said to his disciples, "Behold the Lamb of God."  John had disciples before Jesus did, but he did not teach them for himself.  Of Jesus, John said, "One is coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." (John. 1:27)   Later on he said, "He must become greater and I must become lesser." (John. 3:30)   Twice John said of Jesus, "Behold, the Lamb of God," and the second time two of his own disciples left him to follow the Lamb of God.

          John the baptizer had no ego.  He didn't care about himself, only about the Lord.  When he said, "Behold the Lamb of God," John meant for his disciples to follow Him.  He was saying, "Think of Him, study Him, know all you can about Him, look Him up and down.  He is God, He is man!  He is the one born for your adversity."  The person of Christ is a great marvel!  How God and man can be in one person is impossible for us to understand.  We can only believe what we cannot comprehend.  We can't even try to understand it, just accept it.

          "Behold the Lamb of God."  Modern translations use the weaker term, "Look!"  "Looking" or "Beholding" are terms used in Scripture for faith: Look to Christ, have faith in Christ, study Christ, take your eyes off everything else, and behold the Lamb of God!  You and I need not see anything else, for nothing else is worth seeing.  Trust Him, for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Look to Christ and live, says John.  If you want to come to God in eternal glory, then "Behold the Lamb of God," the One in whom we are saved.

          "Behold the Lamb of God!" meant it was time they should leave John and follow Jesus.  That's why two of John's disciples became disciples of Christ.  There is a great lesson here for pastor and for congregation.  We who preach want your attention, but when we have your attention, we want to pass it on to our Lord.

          "Behold the Lamb," we pastors may say.  Do not behold the one who shows you the Lamb, but look to the Lord, walk in His footsteps, do as He bids you, take Him for your Lord, become His disciples.  Follow where Jesus leads you, and don't just follow the one who leads you to Jesus.  That's why I believe it's not good for a congregation to have the same shepherd too long.  God's undershepherds must always point us to the Lamb, not to the one doing the pointing.  I guess you could say we are "canine Christians."  We must follow the shepherd, not the pointer.

          There is one more Lamb of God to consider:  Revelation 7 says, "I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches.  And they cried in loud voices: 'Salvation belongs to God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb'."

          Behold the Lamb of God before whom all the saints of the earth are gathered in eternal life.  In that great day, the multitude will be gathered before the Lamb from every nation, tribe, people and language.  They come in faith, all who were washed white in the blood of the Lamb.  All the saints will stand in the glittering ranks, white-robed, pure as new snow.  They will sing and praise one glorious name, the name of God.  And someone may step up and ask, "Who are these in white robes, and from where have they come?"  Then God will answer, "They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

          When my wife Carol was a small girl she was unwell for a time, and at the doctor's advice her mother took her to Tucson (maybe that's why we like going there each year).  He said she would only get better if she went to a dryer climate, so Carol and her mother stayed there three months.  When they returned to Iowa on the train, Carol saw her Daddy for the first time in three months.  In her joy, she ran to the car landing, shouted, "Daddy" and just leaped out to him from the high steps.  Fortunately, Daddy was close enough and caught her.  Her joy may have been different if he had not.

          There will come a day when we will see our Heavenly Father, and we too will jump into His arms, from wherever we are.  One great journey will be over and a greater one will begin.  May we all look forward with faith to that day, amen.

Copyright © 2005 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.