The Lamb
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 11:58PM A few years ago, I sat back one day and wondered why “sheep” and “lamb” were used in the Bible to refer to God’s elect and Christ, respectively. After all, a lamb is basically a baby sheep. This past Sunday as Pastor Owen gave his sermon about the relationship of Christ (the ultimate shepherd) and His flock of sheep, I was reminded of this question that had traversed my mind a while back. I thought I’d share a few thoughts on this.
A lamb is a sheep that is one year old or younger. Generally, the meat of lamb is much more tender than that of an adult sheep and when I look at pictures of lamb versus sheep—-it’s like looking at my children fast asleep, calm and seemingly innocent (the operative word is “seemingly” because they definitely are not innocent!) versus looking at a video of myself sleeping, sprawled across the bed, drool dripping out of the corner of my mouth and snoring up a storm. A lamb looks so cute and cuddly; a sheep looks….well…a little disgusting, especially right after having it’s wool shaved.
Not only do sheep look disgusting, but they’re not that smart. Pastor Owen gave the image of little Lizi wanting to pat a sheep and it would run away, scared of a harmless girl. Sheep have bad sense of direction and wander off easily and once lost, they’re prey to numerous predators. It’s no wonder we’re equated with sheep—-we’re often so lost and not so smart. What comfort it is to know that we have the great Shepherd, Christ, who truly watches over us.
Christ is also referred to as the lamb of God (John 1:29), the passover lamb (I Cor 5:7) and the sacrificial lamb (Isaiah, Exodus). Why a lamb? Maybe because the lamb is so similar to the sheep, since Christ (the lamb) had to become fully man (the sheep) to absolutely bear the wrath of God. Or is it because the lamb is so different from the sheep?
A couple years ago during the Philippines mission trip, I clearly remember a sermon given by Pastor Tim Lim. He spoke to a local church in Manilla and his message has stuck with me. Although I haven’t known him for too long, Pastor Lim strikes me as the ‘21st century John the Baptist.’ He’s down in the trenches doing whatever it takes to spread the gospel message. When he was younger, Pastor Tim would minister to the locals in American Indian reservations. Often he’d help slaughter sheep and lamb. There was a clear difference between the two. Before imminent death, the sheep would cry out with incredible noise, struggle and gnash around. The lamb however, was extremely quiet….silent. It would breath a little heavily, but it seemed as if the lamb knew that struggling or crying would do no good. It would accept its fate of death.
Christ accepted His death on the cross willingly on our behalf.
Isn’t the inerrant word of God marvelous? Praise be to the Risen Lamb!
Reader Comments (2)
I found this to be so encouraging to my soul! At 33 years old, I admit to a collection of little lambs because they remind me of the Lord's tender care for us. What a victory The Lamb has secured for us! Thanks Dave.
I remember that message in the Philippines very distinctively as well. Thanks for sharing, Dave. It is a real encouragement to be reminded and reflect on how truly marvelous the inerrant Word of God is! You are one baaaaad sheep! Hahaha... get it? ('Bad' as in the slang and the baaaaa sound that sheep make?). Yes, I do think I'm pretty clever! =)