The Paradox Par Excellence
This implies that the Lamb was slain (by God’s intent-intention from all eternity) by the Divine decree. Certainly, its fulfilment in time had to wait for Calvary and all the whole “redemptive drama” enacted before it. Christ’s redemptive death is God the Father’s benign plan. Even before Creation, Redemption was incorporated in it.
The good God who transcends time and space saw man’s fall and His redeeming him through the Paschal Mystery from all eternity. The earth was the unique stage set for this “divine tragi-comedy”. When the hour of the Cross came and the centurian cruelly pierced Our Lord’s side then it was that the Old Testament was prophecy fulfilled. “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a first born son who has died”(Zach. 12:10).
The phrase the Baptist used to describe how the Lamb of God could take away the sins of the world is parallel in Hebrew and Greek. The Book of Leviticus describes how the scapegoat which shall carry all their sins upon itself into some barren waste land and the man shall let it go, there in the wilderness (Lev. 12:22).
As the scapegoat upon which sins were laid was driven out of the city. Similarly, the Lamb of God who really, (not metaphorically) took away the sins of humanity. He was driven out of the city of Jerusalem.
Thus the Lamb of God, has imparted some relevance and meaning to the lamb God provided Abraham. It is so with all the subsequent lambs offered by the Jews and the gentiles throughout human history. They have derived it from the Lamb of God, who was just standing before the Baptist. What exactly happens there is this the whole OT, through the Baptist, declares Jesus, the Lord to be the “Divinely appointed sacrifice” for the sin of all the “rational animals”. Jesus is the lone remover of human guilt. He is the only Saviour of mankind.
The Israelites had long realized that forgiveness of sin is somehow connected with sacrificial offerings and the shedding of blood. They also seem to have attributed some inherent virtue in the victim. No wonder, when the real victim (Jesus Christ) was offered on Calvary and rose on the third day, He was just reaffirming how necessary it was for Him to suffer. The theme of the whole NT is to teach how to apply the merits of Christ’s redemptive ‘blood’ to ourselves. In the OT when the lambs were sacrificed, some blood was sprinkled on the people. Just before the Lamb of God was to be sacrificed, some stony hearts asked for the sprinkling of His blood in a horribly ironical way!
His blood be on us and on our children (Mt. 27:6).
Thank God, millions and millions find glory because of the sprinkling of the Blood of the Lamb. St. John the Evangelist, later described them in eternal glory. “Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered-to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing.” And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang, Blessing and honour and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever.” And the four living beings said, Amen! And the twenty four elders fell down and worshipped the Lamb”(Rev.5:11-14).
