Why is Jesus Called the Lamb of God?
He takes away the sin of the world.
When John the Baptist first called people’s attention to Jesus, he did so in a very specific way.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
Why did John refer to Jesus as “the Lamb of God?”
The significance of lambs in the Bible.
A lamb was Abel's “more excellent sacrifice” (Genesis 4:1-4).
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. (Hebrews 11:4)
The Israelites sacrificed a lamb during the Passover (Exodus 12).
“Lambs without blemish were to be offered in the daily sacrifices at the tabernacle and the later temple (Exodus 29:38-42). Jesus is God’s Lamb sacrificed for all of humanity.” - Lipe, Truth for Today Commentary: John 1-12, p. 72
When the Jews in the first century thought about a lamb without a spot or blemish, they would have thought of a sacrifice.
Jesus as the Lamb of God.
Jesus being God’s Lamb means He is a sacrifice. The prophet Isaiah spoke of Jesus going to His death like a lamb being slaughtered.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)
Because Jesus never sinned, He is the spotless Lamb of God.
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2:21-24)
Jesus chose to lay down His life for us, taking our place (2 Corinthians 5:21). Just as a lamb was sacrificed under the law of Moses, so Jesus was the Lamb of God offered for the sin of the world. Just as the blood of a lamb would be shed during that sacrifice, so Jesus shed His precious blood for us.
And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Peter 1:17-19).
We should have been the ones who suffered and died - after all, we are the ones who have sinned and deserve to die.
What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; (Romans 3:9-10)
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Jesus willingly chose to take our place so that we could enjoy the gift of God - eternal life - instead of what we earned by our sin.
Philip taught the Ethiopian eunuch of the “Lamb of God,” and he was baptized believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (Acts 8:26-39).
What will you do with the Lamb of God?