FOOD FOR THOUGHT
LAMB
DR. JIM DIXON
AUGUST 7, 2011
JOHN 1:29-36
In March of 1997, the Roslyn Institute in Scotland stunned the world with an announcement that they had cloned a mammal. They had created a little lamb by cloning a single cell from a sheep named Dolly. Newsweek magazine proclaimed that, “This little lamb was destined to be the most famous lamb in the history of the world.” Biblically and metaphorically speaking, that is not true. Biblically speaking, the most famous lamb in the history of the world is the Lamb of God, who is Jesus Christ.
Today we look at the Bible, and we look at the symbolic use of the word “lamb.” I have two teachings. The first teaching is simply this: lamb represents Jesus. Now when you look at the words for lamb in the Bible, you see the words “arnios,” “amnos,” “aren” and “pascha.” All four of these Greek words mean “lamb.” They are distinct from the word “probaton” or “probata,” which means “sheep.” Obviously, the same animal, but the lamb is the younger version. The four words for lamb in the Bible are often used as a metaphor for Christ. Christ is the Lamb. The word “arnios” is used 29 times in the Bible, and 28 of those times it refers to Christ as the Lamb. He is the Lamb of God. What does this mean to us? We need to see the different meanings of this title for Christ.
First of all, it means that Christ is the Passover Lamb. To say that Jesus is the Lamb of God is to say that He is the Passover Lamb. We see this in 1 Corinthians 5:7 where the apostle Paul writes, “Jesus is our Passover Lamb, and therefore we celebrate the festival.” Jesus is our Passover Lamb. He doesn’t use the word “arnios,” he doesn’t use the word “aren,” he doesn’t use the word “amnos.” He uses the word “pascha,” which only refers to a Passover Lamb. Jesus is our Passover Lamb.
Then you come to John 19:17. We are told that at the very moment Jesus died on the cross, Passover lambs were being sacrificed and offered in conjunction with the feast of Passover. In the providence of God, the meaning of all of this is that Jesus Christ is indeed the Passover Lamb. As the Passover Lamb, He offers victory over death.
We understand this when we go back and look at the Passover in Exodus chapters 11 and 12. You can see the institution of the Passover and the use of the Passover Lamb. To understand it contextually, you have to understand that the children of Israel were in bondage. They were being held captive in the land of Egypt. They lived in the region of Goshen, which was in the greater region of the Nile Delta. It was not a bad geographical land space, but their lives were not their own. They were a people in bondage. God raises up Moses and tells Moses that he is to go to the Pharaoh of all Egypt and announce, “Thus sayeth the Lord, ‘Let My people go.”‘ So, Moses goes in obedience to God. He stands before the Pharaoh of Egypt and says, “Thus sayeth the Lord, ‘Let My people go.”‘ The Pharaoh refuses, so God brings ten plagues upon the land of Egypt.
The first plague is blood—the Nile turns to blood. The next plague is frogs, and then gnats, then flies, then cattle infestation, then boils, then hail, then locusts, then darkness. Then you come to the tenth plague. And what is the tenth plague? The tenth plague is death. (You read about these plagues in Exodus chapters 7 through 10.) The angel of death passes over Egypt taking the lives of the firstborn. The Jews are protected . . . but how? They are protected by the blood of the Passover Lamb placed on the mantel, on the doorpost of their homes. The angel of death passes over those homes that are protected by the blood of the Passover Lamb.
To say that Jesus is our Passover Lamb, “pascha,” is to say that He protects us from death. I don’t know how you feel about death or whether you give death much of a thought. Maybe you go through your days and you try not to think about death. Maybe you have never experienced the death of a loved one, maybe you have never experienced the death of a family member. Maybe you would really rather not think about the subject of death. We live in a world where many people struggle with death.
I know you have all heard of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria was the longest reigning monarch of the British Empire. In 1861, her husband Albert died. She loved him. She loved Albert so much that his death was an unbearable loss to her. She would live 40 more years, dying in 1901. Forty more years . . . but she would never be the same. She oftentimes wore black throughout those 40 years. She was oftentimes called the “Widow of Windsor” in a reference to Windsor Palace where she sometimes lived. She had many royal palaces. There was Kensington Palace where she was born. There was Buckingham Palace from which she ruled and reigned. There was Balmoral up in Scotland, which was her summer retreat. There was Osborne House on the Isle of Wight—Osborne House being her winter retreat. She spent the latter years of her life at Osborne House.
When she died in 1901, her son Edward the Seventh, her eldest son, ascended the throne. The first thing he did when he went to the island of Wight to the Osborne House is this: he went up the spiral staircase to the one room at the top. It was a room that Queen Victoria had oftentimes gone to, but she never allowed anybody in that room. She had her own key. She would go in the door, and she would lock it, and nobody was to go in there. Edward the Seventh thought, “Boy, when Mom dies, I am going to check this out.” That is the first thing he did. He goes up the spiral staircase to that room—he has the key now—and he opens it. What in the world is in there? There is nothing, he finds, but pictures of dead people, people his mom had known—loved ones, family members, friends. She had arranged to have photographs taken of all of her friends in death, pictures of them in their caskets, pictures of them prepared for burial. They were on the walls of the room and scattered across the floor, so they were visible everywhere.
What was that all about? Nobody knows. Nobody knows because nobody ever asked her. Nobody knew what was in the room. When somebody finally saw what was in the room, she was no longer here. Yet, somehow, Queen Victoria must have had some kind of preoccupation with death. She was a Christian. She believed in Jesus Christ. I told you before that she announced her desire to one day take her crown and set it at the feet of Jesus Christ, whom she called King of kings and Lord of lords. But she must have had some problem with death, some peculiar fascination with death. And I know we live in a world where death is hard for a lot of people.
Just this last week, Dutch and I were at a meeting with our elder emeritus group. This is a group of men and woman who have served our church here as elders through the years. We are all good friends, and we have a great time when we gather. When we assembled this last week, they asked me, “Jim . . . um . . . are we making solid arrangements for your exodus? Are we making solid arrangements for you to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders?” I assured them that we are. I assured them that we have this newly established 20/20 committee that is looking at the next ten years, and we’ll be working together to bring about transition here at the church in the next ten years. Then I had one of the elders emeritus say, “Well, what if you die suddenly? What if you experience the big one?” I am like, “Well, I think we are in good shape. We have built a strong staff. And if I were to die suddenly, Dutch and the staff would still be here. If Dutch were to die suddenly, I would be here with the staff. It is a good staff. It is a great core of elders. It is a wonderful church, and God is faithful.” But ultimately, you can’t prepare for the big one.
I have sometimes thought, “Wow . . . what if something happened to Barb? What if Barb suddenly died or had the big one?” I don’t have a backup wife. I don’t want a backup wife. I think I would just be so devastated. But I also know that Barb would be with Jesus. I know that Barb would be in heaven and that I would join her there eventually. . . the day would come when we would be there together. I know that as long as I am alive on this earth, Christ’s call is upon me and there is work to do. I know that our whole worldview is changed because of the Lamb, because he is the Passover Lamb, because he has delivered us from death. We have the promise of resurrection. We have the promise of eternal life. That is why the Bible says that as Christians we grieve, but we do not grieve as others do who have no hope. We have Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb.
Jesus is not just the Passover Lamb; He is also the Temple Lamb. When we say that He is the Lamb of God, we mean that He is not just the Passover Lamb who delivers us from death, He is also the Temple Lamb who delivers us from sin. In John chapter 1, John the Baptist announces Christ and says, “Behold the Lamb of God.” He is not referring to the Passover Lamb. There may be some ultimate reference to the Passover Lamb, but his primary reference is to the Temple Lamb. We know this contextually. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This is the role of the Temple Lamb.
In Exodus chapter 29, you read about the temple lamb that was offered at the temple every day. There was a morning offering of the temple lamb and then an evening sacrifice of the temple lamb. Every morning and every evening, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, the temple lamb was offered for the sin of the people. On the Sabbath day, as recorded in Numbers chapter 28, double lambs were offered.
Perhaps some of you read the Old Testament, and you look at the Old Testament sacrificial system which was instituted by God, and you might think, “That is kind of bloody. There were a lot of animals put away.” The animals that died in sacrifice were small in number compared to the number of animals that were used in food and for the provision of food. That is true when you look at America today. Obviously when you look at our food sources, we kill countless cows, beef stock, chickens, pigs or hogs, buffalo, and sheep to feed people. This is true in every nation of the world—animals are offered as part of food provision. Still, I know for some of you, you still think, “I don’t understand the sacrificial system, and I don’t understand the necessity of the blood.” And yet, God, biblically, makes it very clear that the penalty for sin is death. God wants us to clearly understand that. The penalty for sin is death. He wants us to understand how serious sin is in the sight of a holy God.
The whole sacrificial system, in the plan of God, was meant to point to the Messiah, who would be the suffering servant and the ultimate sacrifice for the sin of the world. When Jesus died on the cross, when His body was broken and His blood was shed, that was the once and for all sacrifice. It was the end of the sacrificial system; it all came to an end in the sight of God because Jesus had died for the sin of the world once and for all, atoning for the sin by the offering of Himself. He is the Temple Lamb, and we rely on Him for forgiveness of sin. So, when we say Jesus is the Lamb of God, we are trusting Him with regard to death because He is the Passover Lamb, and we are trusting Him with regard to sin because He is the Temple Lamb.
Just this summer, Barb and I took a little vacation and went down to Canyon City and to the Royal Gorge. How many of you have ever gone to the Royal Gorge? Wow! Most of you! It is amazing to me how many people sometimes never visit some of the cool stuff in their own state. In any event, we had never gone there. We went on a Monday and drove down to Colorado Springs on our way there. We stopped at the Broadmoor and walked around the lake. It was beautiful. We grabbed a little lunch in the Garden Room, and then we got in the car again and headed out on highway 115 until we got to highway 50 to Canyon City. We had never been to Canyon City. We drove through it. We were not very impressed. We drove through Canyon City, and we thought, “The day is young . . . let’s head up to the Royal Gorge.” We drove up 50 to the Royal Gorge. It was really fun. There were people there from all over the country (hardly any Colorado plates) and plates from states all over America.
At the Royal Gorge, we went down the incline rail, the cog rail that went down to the bottom of the valley to the Arkansas River. We went across the suspension bridge, one of the highest suspension bridges in the world, rising 1,000 feet above the bottom of the gorge and the Arkansas River. There is a gondola that goes across the gorge and fun things to do on either side. We had a great afternoon. We went back to Canyon City and stayed at the Hampton Inn, which was about all we could find there. The next morning, we went up the Royal Gorge by the Arkansas River on the Breakfast train. It was really kind of cool. In a day and half it was done, and we were back here in Denver.
One thing we noticed when we were in Canyon City is the amazing number of prisons. I mean Canyon City has got to be the prison capital of the world. Seventeen prisons . . . seventeen different places of incarceration in Canyon City. You look at these huge buildings surrounded by high walls and barbed wire fences with these guard towers rising up. They all look so bleak and so tragic. Barb turned to me and said, “Boy, I hope I never have to spend a day in one of those.” I suspect she won’t. . . . Dark and dreary . . . seventeen prisons. There are many criminals in those prisons serving time. Some of them have committed murder. Some of them have committed mass murder, serial killers. I tell you this: any person in any of those seventeen prisons, no matter what they have done, if they come to the cross and they ask Jesus truly to forgive them of their sin and to wash them whiter than snow . . . and if they offer their life to Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior, they will be forgiven. Their ticket will be punched for heaven. It doesn’t mean that they won’t have to pay a price for what they have done in this world. Obviously, there is a justice system in this world that is rightly enforced, but it means that there is power in the cross. There is power in the blood. There is power in the Lamb. He is the Temple Lamb. There is no sin too great for Him to forgive. The only sin He won’t forgive is rejection of Him. That’s blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit testifies to the Son of God. And when you reject the Holy Spirit’s testimony again and again and again over the course of your life, it reaches the point of blasphemy. That’s the only sin that can’t be forgiven, but every other sin . . . He has that power to forgive.
I was watching the news last week and they were talking about a New York prison where David Berkowitz, who was called “Son of Sam” has been incarcerated for 35 years. This mass murderer has accepted Christ. He has given his heart to Jesus. Do you understand the power of the Lamb to forgive? There is nothing you have done that can’t be forgiven. There is nothing I have done that can’t be forgiven. So, when we say that Jesus is the Lamb, this is huge! He is the Passover Lamb, and He delivers us from death. He is the Temple Lamb, and He delivers us from sin.
He is also the Warring Lamb, and we don’t have time for that. In Revelation, Jesus is called the Lamb 28 times. Sometimes, it is the Temple Lamb, the Lamb that was slain; but other times, it is the Warring Lamb, the two-horned male lamb, the ram lamb. It is the Warring Lamb who will come in wrath. It speaks of the wrath of the Lamb, as Jesus will come to judge the nations. This is another image of the Lamb . . . and a very different one. Again, we don’t have time to deal with that this morning. When we speak of lamb in the Bible, we first think of Jesus—the Passover Lamb, the Temple Lamb, the Warring, Two-horned Lamb.
One other thought, one other teaching . . . briefly. When you think of lamb in the Bible you should also think of the church. The church is His flock and it consists of His lambs. So, we come to the passage in John chapter 21, verses 15 and 17, where you have that dialogue between Jesus and Peter by the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is risen from the dead, and He has appeared to the disciples by the Sea of Gennesaret, or the Sea of Galilee. He has performed a miracle catch of fish. He has invited the disciples to come and have breakfast with Him by the seashore. They have breakfast together, and then Jesus has a conversation with Peter.
Jesus asked Peter the same question three times. Peter gives the same answer three times. Jesus makes the same declaration three times. Jesus said, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter said, “Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed My sheep.” Again, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” “Lord, you know that I love you.” “Feed My sheep.” Then a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” “Feed My sheep.” The problem with this exchange is subtle; but in the Greek, you see it.
There is an interplay of terms, and we don’t know completely what it means. The first two times when Jesus poses the question, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Jesus uses the word “agape” for love. This is divine love, this is God’s love, and this is the highest sort of love. “Do you love me with the love of God?” Peter’s response each time is, “Lord, you know that I love you.” But Peter doesn’t use “agape”; he uses “phileo,” which is friendship love. “I love you as my best friend.” Then, the third time Jesus switches from “agape” to “phileo.” He says, “Simon, son of John, do you love me like a friend.” Peter is frustrated. He says, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I so love you.” We don’t know whether “phileo” and “agape” should be given distinctive meanings or whether they are synonymous in this context because sometimes “phileo” and “agape” were synonymous, while other times they were to be used distinctively.
The bigger problem comes with the declaration of Christ, “Feed My sheep.” Because when Christ says, “feed My sheep,” He uses two different Greek words. He uses the word “poimaino,” which means “feed” or “shepherd”; but then He uses the word “bosko,” which also means “to feed.” Should there be a difference in meaning there? Is there a distinction there? We don’t know for sure. The big deal is when you come to sheep. “Feed My sheep.” “Feed My sheep.” “Feed My sheep.” The first time, Jesus uses the word “arnios,” which means “lambs.” “Feed My lambs.” The second time, Jesus uses the word “probatia,” which means “young sheep.” “Feed My young sheep.” The third time, Jesus uses the word “probata,” which means “mature sheep.” “Feed My lambs.” “Feed My young sheep.” “Feed My mature sheep.”
Scholars debate, “Should we honor these distinctives or just say ‘sheep, sheep, sheep?’” “Are the words being used interchangeably or are they distinctive?” We don’t know. But we know this: when you think of lambs, you should think of the flock. You should think of the church of Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus said to Peter, “Shepherd My church, shepherd the lambs, shepherd the young sheep, shepherd the mature sheep, shepherd them all. Shepherd the children, shepherd the teenagers, and shepherd the adults. I will build My church; the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” When you think of lamb, think of Jesus. Think of the Passover Lamb, think of the Temple Lamb, think of the Warring Lamb, but think also of the church.
I just want to share a couple of thoughts with regard to the church before we close. The first thought has to do with salvation, with what theologians call “soteriology.” Jesus, the Bible says, is “Soter,” which means “savior.” The gospel is all about “soterios,” which means “salvation.” The gospel is about salvation. When you think of lamb, it really tells us something about the gospel and the whole subject of salvation. The gospel isn’t simply a call to the Lamb of God who is Jesus Christ. The gospel is a call to the Lamb of God, but that is not the sum of it. The gospel is also a call to the flock. If you really respond to the gospel, you don’t just receive Jesus as Lamb of God, Passover Lamb, Temple Lamb, and Warring lamb. It is not as simple as that. You also make a commitment to His flock. That is why He said, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail.” He has called you to come and join His flock. That is a hard thing because the visible institutional church is kind of messed up. It is still His chosen vessel in the world. You can’t just ignore it. You can’t just pretend it isn’t there. The gospel calls us to His flock. Have you responded?
I know churches have problems. Barb’s sister Jan is a wonderful person. Jan used to be our receptionist in the lobby. Whenever you came in the church, the person sitting behind the desk was Barb’s sister Jan. She loves Christ. Her husband Dale is just the greatest guy, and he loves Christ. Jan and Dale—it is hard for us—just left town and moved to Palm Springs, California. They did this at the beginning of the summer (a pretty dumb time to move to Palm Springs). They are enjoying the 115-degree temperatures in Palm Springs. Jan and Dale are out there, and they joined this church called Southwest Community Church. It is a church that has had some ups and downs like most churches do. David Moore used to be the pastor there at Southwest Community Church. David Moore was very gifted, very talented, a great proclaimer of the Word; but he had conduct unbecoming of the gospel. He participated in fiscal irresponsibility and sexual misconduct, and he was appropriately removed by the church. It was hard, and the church went through such pain and such shock and loss of members.
Then the church hired this new pastor named Thune, and he is a great guy. Barb and I have heard him speak a number of times. He loves Christ and loves the Word. His brother is actually a United States Senator in South Dakota. This guy loves Christ, and he has done a really good job of healing the church. The church has kind of rebounded. There is great attendance, and the gospel is going forth, and lives are being impacted . . . and they just fired him. Jan and Dale go to church on a Saturday night service, and he announces that he has been fired and this is his last Sunday. There is no conduct unbecoming the gospel as they look into it. The elder board just feels like he is too old. They want a younger congregation. Yet, the church has done so well. I don’t know . . . somebody needs to inform the elder board that Palm Springs is a retirement community.
You see, this is true all over the world. Churches are kind of messed up. Churches consist of people, and we are messed up. This is God’s chosen vessel on earth. We don’t have a choice. We have been called to come into the flock as lambs. I think lamb is a wonderful kind of visual image of the church because not everybody likes lamb. If you are having somebody over for dinner, you can’t just serve lamb . . . you have to find out whether or not they like it. This isn’t like chicken and rice or meat and potatoes. Not everyone likes lamb. I love lamb. I love leg of lamb. I love a rack of lamb. I love lamb chops. I love lamb. You go to Israel, and you have a hard time finding lamb because mostly they serve mutton. Mutton is a sheep almost ready to die. Mutton even when prepared right by a master chef with delicious sauces, with proper condiments, in a wonderful atmosphere . . . it still stinks. I think it is true that the church is kind of odorous to some people. Some people like it, some people don’t. We are all called to it. We are all called to be His lambs and to come together.
We have a mission. In seminaries, ministers study missiology so they might understand the mission of the church—how we are sent into the world and how we need each other. Jesus said, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” Except, when you look at Luke chapter 10, verse 3, he doesn’t say sheep. The Greek word is “aren,” which is the most common Greek word for “lambs.” “I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves.” He wants us to understand there is a vulnerability here as He sends us into the world. This is kind of a scary assignment. “I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves.”
We need to encourage each other. We need to come together. We need to pray for each other. We need to team up. I told you that Brittany, who sang for us this morning, is going to the University of Northern Colorado. We are having this service on Wednesday night at Midpoint to pray for these kids. We are sending them forth as what? “Lambs, in the midst of wolves.” They are going to go to institutions of higher learning, many of them to secular colleges and universities. There are many wonderful teachers and professors, but there are also many who will attack the Christian faith. These kids are going to be told that the Bible is a book of historical inaccuracies. They are going to make fun of the Bible. They are going to say that the Bible contains moral pruderies and theological absurdities. They are going to be told that the historical Jesus is unknowable, that He is so buried in the mythology of the Bible as to be unknowable. They are going to be told all of these things.
These accusations against Christ and the credibility of the Bible are groundless. The Bible is easily defended if we prepare ourselves and understand. So many do not understand Scripture. It is the Word of God, and it is beautiful. Our culture is leaving the faith and Judeo-Christian values are eroding. The Church of Jesus Christ, the lambs of Christ have to come together. We pray together for the protection of our Shepherd, as we go forth into the world as salt and light seeking to be used by Him. We look forward to the “eschaton”; we look forward to the last things. We look forward to the promise that He is coming for His flock and He is going to take us home. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, with the sound of the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ will rise. We who are alive, who are left until His coming, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. We shall always be with the Lord.” Greener pastures. Still waters. He will take care of His flock.
In the meantime, there is work to do. We want to be faithful. Remember, when you think of lamb, think of Jesus. He is the Passover Lamb who delivers us from death. He is the Temple Lamb who delivers us from sin. He is the Warring Lamb, the Two-horned Ram Lamb who is going to judge the nations. When you think of lamb, also think of the flock. Think of the church of Jesus Christ. Think of the community to which the gospel calls you. This is Cherry Hills Community Church. Community Church is a redundancy. The word “church” in the Greek is “ekklesia,” which means “assembly” or “community.” This is Cherry Hills Community Community, and you are called into it. And you are to find your place, and to do all that you can to bless the cause and mission of the church of Jesus Christ. Let’s close with a word of prayer.