The Shepherding Lamb

“There was a man sent from God whose name was John…” John 1:6

In a recent study of John, the connection between his highway making for Jesus and Jesus as the Lamb and also as the Shepherd became extremely apparent. Mentions of the Lamb are read most in John, Revelation, and also in Isaiah when speaking of John’s purpose as the way-maker for Christ. As I searched out these connections I wanted to put them all in one place where I could get the whole picture of Jesus our sacrificial Lamb, and Jesus our guiding Shepherd. We cannot have one characteristic of who Christ is without the other and these two names of God and where they are referenced can also not be separated from the topic.

John 1:29 is the first reference to Jesus as the Lamb of God. Throughout the Old Testament, we read multiple times of the lamb and the place it held as the sacrifice. The unblemished, perfect lamb was required time and again, most notably during the tenth plague in Egypt. But with the whole Bible at our fingertips, we see that the lamb was always a picture of Christ and what he would do. It’s not until John’s writings that we read this title of Christ.

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29.

To gain a full understanding of the interconnections of these topics history of John is helpful. Isaiah 40:3 gives us the prophetic word that John would bring to pass.

“A voice cries:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

A mere few months before Jesus’ birth, Elizabeth gave birth to the child she and Zechariah had prayed for, John. Isaiah isn’t the only place we read of John’s coming and his purpose. Malachi 3:1 states John's direct purpose in clear, easy to understand, terms.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.”

Luke 1:16-17

“And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

It’s obvious to us from scripture what John was going to do in his life. And I don’t think that it was a surprise to him. Zechariah and Elizabeth were given strict instructions for how John was to live his life and I believe he followed those instructions to the best of his sin-flawed nature's ability. An extremely important thing to note is that John had a right understanding of who he was preparing the way for. He understood that the Messiah, a man “whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” was coming after him to save the world and it was his job to point those around him in the right direction. He turned many hearts to God and always pointed to Christ. When John’s followers looked at Christ, John encouraged them to go follow Him, he didn’t desire that they remain in his care, but that they found true peace in Christ. John 1 calls John the Baptist a witness of who Christ was. John did not pretend to be Christ or a prophet or Elijah as he was asked in John 1. He answered honestly with Isaiah’s words. He was simply preparing the way for the Savior, who although would come after him, was truly from before him (John 1:15) The further into John 1 we go, the more we understand John’s purpose and then who Christ is. He was the Word become flesh, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. To fully understand all these things a full breakdown of John 1 is needed, but I won’t be doing that. It’s time now to move on to Jesus as the Lamb.

As previously stated, John 1:29 is the first time the title the Lamb of God is used. The last reference with this title is in Revelation 22:3 “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.”

This title of the Lamb is extremely powerful, not just in its imagery, but in how it describes this part of Jesus’ character. Apart from John 1, Revelation 5 is the other place that the Lamb is mentioned, much more extensively, and it is in this chapter that the worthiness of the Lamb is denoted.

John saw a Lamb that looked as though it had been slain, surrounded by living creatures, and it was this Lamb that came forward when no one was found to be worthy to open the scroll with its seven seals. John expected to see a ferocious beast, a lion, step forth to be heaven's champion. But the Lamb represents a much different character than that of a conqueror. The lamb represents gentleness, humility, and sacrificial love. There is importance in how John phrased “as if it had been slain…” Trapp makes the connection between Johns words and the implication we know is there;

“This form of speech is put to show the continual recent vituperative of Christ’s death eternally effectual before God, as whereby once all he hath purchased eternal redemption.”

Later in chapter 5 (verse 9), we are clued in even more to who this Lamb is. “And with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” God has graciously given written instruction and explanation for his actions, for who his Son is and what he has done, is doing, and will someday do in the future.

When I first read Revelation 5:6 verse one cannot help but be struck by the imagery of the risen Christ, with his nail-scarred hands. Like this Lamb, he too had the appearance of being slain and it was He who was the only one who was worthy to be slain for our redemption. His wounds also maintain their freshness, so that from that day until eternity’s end his sacrifice will be remembered by one look at his wounds. These mark that he took the judgment on himself.

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!”

The last remark on Christ as the lamb is from Isaiah 53:7, “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, yet he opened not his mouth…” Immediately Jesus before Pilate comes to mind;

Jesus essentially said I am who you say I am and he did nothing to contradict or correct Pilates assumptions. He did not fight, made no argument, or made an issue with his sentencing. He followed like a lamb follows the shepherd to the shears. Jesus was the perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb and simultaneously he is the Good Shepherd, who lays his life down for his sheep. (John 10:11)

Now, Christ as the Shepherd is also from the book of John 10, Psalm 23, and Ezekiel 34. In the OT, the statement is “The Lord is my shepherd” but the sentiment remains the same. The protector, leader, and guide. In Ezekiel 34 God goes into detail about how he will rescue his people, his flock. He wishes to do all the things mentioned above; find, lead, guide, and protect.

Ezekiel 34:11-15

“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.”

Isaiah 40 refers to the characteristic of the shepherd in verse 11, “He tends his flock like a shepherd, he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart…” Once again, the imagery is striking. These two things, the sheep and the shepherd are polar opposites, and yet Christ is called both. And both lay their lives down in sacrifice. The shepherd for his sheep, and the lamb for the sins of th“There was a man sent from God whose name was John…” The book of John gave both these titles for the Lord. John gave the Lamb and the Good Shepherd and these two opposites yet intrinsically woven together characteristics that open up the heart of our Savior just a little bit more.