[October 14th, 1866.]
Numerous designations are given to the Messiah. The Shiloh, the Seed of Abraham, the Branch, the Servant of God, a Light, the Sun of Righteousness, &c. All these are intended to set forth his character.
He is called the Lamb of God,
I. Because He was a Sacrifice for Sin.—The lamb in the Old Testament was the principal sacrificial animal. a. Because the freest from defects and the most attractive and pleasing of all domestic animals. b. Because harmless and gentle. c. Because unresisting, going dumb to the slaughter. In all these characteristics it was typical of Christ. It was especially the paschal lamb, and the lamb as used at the morning and evening sacrifice that the lamb was a type of Christ. He is our passover. And he is our perpetual sacrifice, needed not occasionally but constantly. Christ, as the Lamb of God, is declared to be our sacrifice, to be acceptable and divinely appointed, and constantly efficacious.
II. In the Evangelists and the Epistles Christ is called the Lamb of God only three or four times and then always in reference to his sacrificial death.—In the Revelation he is called the Lamb twenty times, and in different relations.
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As a sacrifice. The Lamb that was slain. As he in whose blood the saints had washed their robes.
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As the ruler of the Church and of the world, he is set forth as the Lamb. It is the Lamb who opens the seals, who is opposed by the wicked, and who overcomes them, who is the Lord of lords and King of kings, who is seated on the throne of God.
This teaches that the ruler of the Church and of the world, the Theanthropos, has the attributes of a lamb; and hence, a. That opposition to him is unprovoked and malignant. b. That his people may confide in his gentleness and tenderness. He is not like a ferocious, or even an austere ruler, but one whose sceptre is love, who rules by and in love.
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As judge he is called the Lamb. The saints are enrolled in his book of life; and the wicked shall call upon the rocks to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. This teaches that even in the administration of justice, Christ acts with the greatest tenderness and forbearance.
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That as the Lamb he is the object of supreme worship to all orders of beings. The elders, the living creatures, the redeemed, all bow down before him. All ascribe salvation to him; all unite in worshipping God and the Lamb.
This teaches a. That the God-man, the Theanthropos is the proper object of worship. A man, or a person, clothed in humanity is to be worshipped. There is a difference between the ground and the object of worship. b. It teaches that he is worshipped, because he is the Lamb of God. It is because he has redeemed us that saints and angels worship him. c. That although he is thus highly exalted he is still the Lamb, and may be approached with confidence and love.
- That he as the Lamb is the source of the blessedness of heaven. The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. The pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of the holy city, New Jerusalem. The city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. According to the Hebrew parallelism, these two last clauses are synonymous.
It is God therefore, not in his awfulness, not in his infinitude, not in his abstract perfection; but God as the Lamb, i.e., as clothed with gentleness, with whom we are to have communion.
- In his relations to the Church, he is called the Lamb. The Church is the bride, the Lamb’s wife. The consummation will be the marriage supper of the Lamb.
a. This expresses the relationship of Christ to the Church collectively and to each individual believer. b. The nature of the relation is peculiar, intimate, tender and indissoluble; the strongest bond and the highest love. c. The bridegroom of the soul and of the Church, although infinite in power, wisdom, goodness and truth, is a Lamb. There is a world of consolation in that.
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