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What does it mean that Jesus is the Lamb of God? | GotQuestions.org

I don’t get it. What is the big deal about Jesus being the lamb of God? They are cute and all but they tend to wander off a lot. They don’t seem to be the brightest of animals. Okay, let’s dig in and learn more.

When Jesus is called the Lamb of God in John 1:29 and John 1:36, it is referring to Him as the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for my missing God’s goal (aka sin).

  • In order to understand who The Messiah was and what He did, we must begin with the Old Testament (aka agreement), which contains prophecies concerning the coming of The Messiah as a “guilt offering”.
  • In fact, the whole sacrificial system established by God in the Old Testament set the stage for the coming of Jesus The Messiah, who is the perfect sacrifice God would provide as atonement for the missing of God’s goals (sins) of His people.
  • This is hard to understand since there is no sacrificial system in religious life today. The Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths don’t have it (at least for thousands of years now).

Jesus the Messiah is likened to a lamb: Here are the primary references to Jesus being the lamb of God. Now this is some good news. Jesus, under the sacrificial system established in the old agreement, takes away our penalty for missing God’s goals for our lives.

  • John 1:36  — and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
  • John 1:29  — The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
  • 1 Corinthians 5:7  — Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For the Messiah our Passover also has been sacrificed.
  • 1 Peter 1:19  — but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of the Messiah.
  • Revelation 5:6  — And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

While the idea of a sacrificial system might seem strange to us today, the concept of payment or restitution is still one we can easily understand. We know that the wages of sin is death and that our sin separates us from God. We also know the Bible teaches we are all sinners and none of us is righteous before God.

Because of our sin, we are separated from God, and we stand guilty before Him. Therefore, the only hope we can have is if He provides a way for us to be reconciled to Himself, and that is what He did in sending His Son Jesus the Messiah to die on the cross. Jesus died to make atonement for sin and to pay the penalty of the sins of all who believe in Him.