The Lamb of God
by Robert L Reymond
A promising note appears in the author's Preface. Observing that most if not all theological novelties, new ideas in the field of soteriology are suspect, Reymond relates how Francis Schaeffer on hearing a critic conclude his view of Scripture took readers back to the pre-critical 17th century, replied, "I had hoped it took them back to the first." The author shares this sentiment. One of the sub-titles of this book is: A Devotional Biblical/Theological Study In Soteriology. Soteriology is the theological doctrine of salvation as effected by Jesus Christ. There are umpteen sources on soteriology and you'll do well exploring some of the documents linked at: http://www.monergism.com/
First, let's look through this soteriological monograph and see what treasures it holds.
1. Introduction
The doctrine of Jesus as the slain lamb of God, slain from the creation of the world, is ultimately rooted in the divine decree. The death of Christ is decreed from eternity. God purposed Jesus Christ to fulfil His eternal plan - the suffering messiah as God's sacrificial lamb. And this "lamb work" is to be found throughout the Old and New Testaments. Essentially this monograph proposes to examine Biblical vignettes concerning the suffering of 'the lamb of God who bears away the sins of the world'
Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
2. The Lamb Prophesied: Genesis 3:15, 21
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Latent in everything the Bible affirms about Christ is the conquering, the crushing and destroying of Satan and his forces by some one who will rise out of the human race, the woman's seed. It begins in Genesis 3:15 and it repeats through scripture: the reign of evil will come to an end. Reymond takes exception with those (such as Geerhardus Vos & Meredith Kline) who suggest Genesis 3:15 to refer to the collective. (An interesting thread follows in the footnotes taking readings from both Vos & Kline that provides a broader understanding of this matter). Reymond argues that the seed of the serpent is collective and the mortally wounded seed of the woman refers precisely to Jesus Christ. From the beginning of redemptive history the saints hope rested in the triumphant 'conflict work' of Christ.
Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
The shame of physical nakedness shared by Adam & Eve is an external reflex of the internal nakedness of a sin-burdened mind before God. They were not wrong in seeking a covering but rather in seeking a covering in their works, rather than asking God's forgiveness that is grounded in the 'conflict-work' of Christ (as foretold in Genesis 3:15) which is depicted by the animal skin: a sacrifice for sin. In coating man in the skin of a single animal God sets the foundations of biblical sacrifice - animal sacrifice can preserve human life.
[There is a sense here that Reymond very succinctly pins his case with little ado. It struck me as a powerful insight connecting the coat of skin and the sacrificial skin with the conflict foretold in Genesis 3:15.]
3. The Lamb Symbolized: Genesis 22:1 - 14
All biblical history prior to Gen 12 stands as introduction to God's covenant with Abraham, all that follows is the outworking of the promise. Abraham became spiritual father of all who believe. Essentially, the discussion draws on insights from Vos' Biblical Theology. Isaac was given to the sacrificial 'lamb role'. Abraham, questioned by Isaac as to the whereabout's of the lamb for the burnt offering revealed a prophetic faith: My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. In essence, God will see to our need and provide. The fulfilment is then given when God halts the sacrifice of Isaac and provides the 'thorn crowned' male sheep, caught by the horns, which Abraham takes for sacrifice. So the covenant is set: Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
[This is a difficult chapter to take in, with a lot going on, particularly with the dense footnotes and differentiations of symbol and typical antitypical sacrifice. No doubt I'll re-read this chapter and revise these notes.]
4. The Lamb Typified: Exodos 12:1 - 13
Exo 12:22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin;
The Old Testament redemptive event par excellence, the paschal deliverance, sprang from God's sovereign almighty power. Moses would deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage. The paschal lamb's significance is not the identification with Israelite dwellings but its sacrificial quality. The blood of a sacrifice - done as God describes - not only stays judgement but infers the expiation or covering of sin. As the blood is applied to the home by a sprig of hyssop - a symbol of purification - the purification of sin is also present. The paschal lamb points towards Christ as the antitypical lamb of God.
Exo 12:9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire;
Then follows a short yet fascinating speculative query into what a 'boiled', or a 'raw', or a 'fire-roasted' Christ would be. The Christ roasted with fire endures the pains of hell fire for His people.
[I realise now, despite the brevity, this is a very serious book that cuts with sharp blades, takes no prisoners and pulsates with the presence of the Spirit. There is nothing light weight, nothing superfluous, loitering within these pages and it demands something serious and God fearing of its readers.]
5. The Lamb Signified: Exodus 25 - 40; Leviticus 8 - 9
The redeemed of Sinai are given, in addition to the Ten Commandments, instructions for building the wilderness tabernacle and for the institution of the Aaronic priesthood. Only two chapters of the Holy Bible recount the Creation of the world, but thirteen chapters of Exodus are given to the assembly of the tabernacle and the conduct of the priestly service at the tabernacle. Very detailed instructions on the construction of the tabernacle are found in Exodus 25 -30. It was to be an "exact copy and shadow of the true tabernacle into which Christ entered with his own blood as the redeemed saint's High Priest after the order of Melchizedek." A footnote promises more in later pages on the True Tabernacle. This entire discussion of the Tabernacle needs to be digested slowly. Reymond wraps up with these words: "... the symbolic meaning of the Shekinah glory that took up its abode in the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-35) is disclosed in John 20:22 when Jesus breathed upon his disciples and said to them: 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' "
The Aaronic priestly system was superseded and rendered obsolete by the priestly order of Melchizedek. Why? Because Jesus Christ after the order of Melchizedek satisfied divine justice with one all sufficient sacrifice requiring no repetition.
Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;
So, Christ's entrance into the heavenly sanctuary occurred when he assumed the high priestly role of Mediator of the new covenant, and the Most Holy Place was his cross. Although a space-time historical event, this was an event in the spiritual world: the intersection of Eternity with Time - the heavenly in the earthly, the transcendental in the historical.
[I'll admit, in all three readings of the Holy Bible to date, I have on each occassion found the Aaronic priesthood, Levitical legislation, tabernacle construction and priestly garment 'stuff' especially out of range to understand at any but a face value level. This chapter takes all that 'stuff' and relates it to Christ's lamb-work in a way I had never perceived, revealing clear distinctions between the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, and this shows up the lunacy of the Roman Catholic priest, as the descendant of the superceded Aaronic priest. Fascinating but again, difficult.]
6. The Lamb Codified: Leviticus 1 - 7; 16:1 - 16
Priestly legislation required the priests offer a lamb daily, morning and evening. There were several types of blood sacrifice in Levitical legislation: the burnt offering made atonement for sin in general; the sin offering made atonement for specific transgressions where restitution was not possible; the trespass offering made atonement for specific transgressions where restitution was possible. There were three types of peace offering: the thankoffering, a communion meal for fellowship with God; the votive offering, a communion meal for blessing and deliverance already granted; the free will offering as a communion meal expressed general thankfulness and love toward God.
The biblically illiterate regard this Levitical legislation to be a barbarous cult, but by this legislation God was schooling Israel in the great principle of forgiveness through the substitutionary death of an innocent sacrifice for the guilty. More fascinating yet is the centrepiece of Levitical legislation: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). Two goats are sacrificed, one a sin offering and the other a live goat - the scapegoat: the priest would lay his hands on the scapegoat and confess the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites before sending the goat away into the wilderness, carrying on itself all their sins. Salvation comes to the sinner who turns for forgiveness away from his own efforts, who approaches God through the blood sacrifice offered in his stead. The blood of Christ fulfils the whole pattern of The Day of Atonement ritual. The Old Testament sacrifices were tools in the hand of the Holy Spirit whereby the elect were taught to trust in the coming Messiah's Lamb-work. The Levitical system had no intrinsic power to save but rather foreshadowed the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit taught the hearts of the elect to turn away from their own efforts in self-salvation. Essentially what separates the Levitical system from other cultic thinking of the time is that it pointed forward to the sacrifice of the sinless Messiah as the antitypical Lamb of God.
7. The Lamb Deified: Isaiah 7:14-16; 9:6 - 7
Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah, of all Old Testament authors, sets out the doctrine of Christ in the greatest detail. Briefly then, God told King Ahaz of Judah of the prediction of Jesus' miraculous conception and birth. Reymond discusses the exact rendering of the Hebrew and of historical interpretations of certain verses, and concludes that the particular verses under question in Isaiah did mean 'virgin birth'. Accepting this, if the child had no biological father he would necessarily be unique, the nature of which is given in his name: Immanuel, which means: With us is God. Immanu - el. There is exegetical objection to this interpretation, it is argued that a sign that would not be fulfilled for over seven centuries could have little meaning at the time of Ahaz. Numerous solutions have been presented to Isaiah 7:14 which Reymond gives some pages over to presenting, and yet again these would be worth reading over more than once.
[Despite the complexities of the case one cannot help but feel that the solution is resolved as much through Faith as through textual analysis.]
Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Spiritual darkness blankets the land of Immanuel. But, Isaiah declares this darkness will come to pass. It is this prophetic description of the Messiah that gives ground for rejoicing.
To conclude this relatively lengthy chapter, Reymond discourses on the Four Exalted Titles of the Messiah as given by Isaiah: Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, and The Prince of Peace.
The first two names indicating that the Messiah governs with divine wisdom exercising the attribute of divine might as well - wisdom to counsel, power to execute. The third name emphasises the paternal character of the enduring Father who shares in the humanity of his people. That Jesus CHRIST is Isaiah's Prince of Peace, men may find peace with God.
8. The Lamb Personified: Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
The so-called 'Fourth Servant Song' depicts the Servant of the Lord as a suffering servant under the figure of a person led like a lamb to the slaughter. Here, for the first time, a person is spoken of as fulfilling the function of a sacrificial animal.
The First Servant Song 42:1-4,
The Second Servant Song 49: 1-6,
The Third Servant Song 50: 4-9,
The Fourth Servant Song 52:13 - 53:12.
There is some scholarly contention over the limits of these songs, some have added additional verses, but what is clear is all four songs portray a single distinctive figure. This is Reymonds postion. These songs however are given differing interpretations by scholars. Reymond states his position following the work of Franz Delitzsch, an author who has travelled all through the footnotes of these pages, and concludes:
- in the 1st Song the Messiah is set forth to successfully establish justice in the earth.
- in the 2nd he will be confronted with opposition.
- in the 3rd the Messiah himself speaks of the personal suffering he will face.
- in the climactic 4th we are informed why the Servant must suffer, he must bear the sin of many.
Having presented this position, some space is given to showing up the inaccuracies of the Rabbinical view of the servant as Corporate, that is the Servant as the Nation of Israel. Reading the song as it appears in scripture testifies in favour of Reymond, the characteristics of the servant are indeed personal. Reymond points to numerous verses and includes a point by point assault, throwing down the gauntlet to world Jewry, even claiming that the Ancient Synagogue taught and applied the teaching that the prophet spoke in this song of the Messiah.
Other scholars argue that the Servant is an Old Testament martyr, Reymond makes short shrift of this idea, and quickly declares that all the difficulties disappear when the passage is applied personally to Jesus of Nazareth. John the Baptist uses descriptive phrases from this song in reference to Christ and Jesus himself, in numerous Gospel verses can be seen quoting Isaiah, furthermore both the ‘Cross work’ and the ‘Lamb work’ of Jesus Christ shine out through Isaiah 53.
9. The Lamb Identified: John 1:29, 35
Joh 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
John the Baptist foretells of the coming ministry of Christ. John can say He was before him because He was eternally before him. The envisioned Messiah is none other than Jehova who was to be 'enfleshed' in the Virgin's womb incarnated in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. John identified Jesus as the Spirit baptizer, the Jehova of the Old Testament, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Bridegroom of salvation and judgement and as the actual Lamb of God. This latter is not a comparison or likeness to a lamb but IS the very Lamb prophesied.
Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Here the Old Testament's prophesied Lamb, symbolised Lamb, typified Lamb, signified Lamb, codified Lamb, deified Lamb, and personified Lamb is finally identified. Jesus of Nazareth is the sacrificial victim presented to God and the victim provided by God. There is one further point to the work of John the Baptist which is this: identifying the Lamb to the people was not the total extent of John's evangelical role, he gave instruction that we should believe and trust in Jesus:
Act 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
[What becomes clear through these pages is the inventive efforts of scholars to undermine and lay up confusion by interposing upon scripture hindrances and poisons drawn presumably from their seminary studies. The Word is twisted, redefined and reduced, Christ's divinity is shrunk to a man-size fit. This historical struggle begins in Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: - and it continues to this very day with these types, with their imaginations exalted against the knowledge of God.]
10. The Lamb Crucified: The Four Gospels
All four Gospels are biographical narratives about Jesus but the amount of narrative devoted to the last week of Jesus' life makes clear that for the Evangelists the suffering and death of the Lamb of God is central to redemptive history. The historical fact of Jesus' crucifixion virtually every religious scholar accepts, excepting Islamic scholars. Less acknowledged, is that Christ's crucifixion as the Lamb was a work of sacrifice for the sins of others. Christ's death as a sacrifice is replete with implications.
Christ was the sinless perfection without blemish.
The sinner's sin is transferred to Christ on the analogy of the Levitical legislation.
Christ stands in substitution because of, for, and in behalf of sinners whose sin had been imputed to him.
Christ's sacrifice cancelled their imputed sins.
[In this one short chapter the whole case against Islam rears up - for quite simply, claiming to be of Abraham's seed yet denying Christ's sacrifice, holding to the belief that God requires no sacrifice, and insisting absolute submission to Allah as the means of salvation all goes to show just how shallow and off the mark this teaching is: a sinful fallen being is incapable of such submission! God knows it, all the angels know it and so too should you. It isn't a matter of choice or preference but discernment.]
11. The Lamb Clarified: The New Testament Letters
It was as the obedient Lamb that Christ played his role in the divine plan. Throughout his entire life he moved in perfect obedience to the will of God. In the NT letters His death is represented as a sacrifice, a sin offering, and a penal substitution.
As a propitiating sacrifice he turned aside God's wrath by taking away the sins of those for whom he died.
As a reconciling sacrifice he removes God's alienation toward us by taking away the cause of that alienation, sin.
As a redeeming sacrifice he pays the ransom price for the sins of those for whom he died.
As a destroying sacrifice he crushed the head of the Prince of this World, securing victory over Satan. Qouting John Murray: "It is most significant that the work of Christ, which is so central to our Christian faith, is essentially a work of destruction that terminates upon the power and work of Satan ..."
Through the discussion of these four biblical characterisations of Christ's death Reymond introduces contrary readings from Arminians, among others, which contribute and give an overall depth to the topic.
12. The Lamb Glorified: John's Revelation
Here in the final disclosure of the conquering Lamb, Jesus is still referred to with all the familiar names - Christ, Lord, son of man, Son of God, etc, but by far the most common 'new' name used for the glorified Christ is 'the Lamb'. This is the ascended magisterial Christ, King of kings, Lord of lords, leading armies of heaven to battle with the Antichrist. He is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. The attributes of God are ascribed to Christ. God and the Lamb are a unity.
The doctrine of the Lamb's work clearly demonstrates that the New Testament is latent in the Old Testament; the Old is patent in the New, the OT is shadow, NT substance, OT typical and prophetical, NT the antitypical fulfillment. The unity and continuity of the Covenant of Grace, that there is One Saviour, one plan of Salvation in redemptive history is maintained throughout the entirety of Holy Scripture. The conquering Lamb of God occupies centre stage throughout from eternity to eternity. The Lamb work is sacred ground, the Most Holy Place and central to the Christian faith.13. Conclusion
The question is Why did God go to such lengths to arrange for the incarnate Jesus to be crucified at Calvary? The answer: to ground the good news of the gospel. This presupposes humankind's moral depravity, moral inability and guilt before God as well as the judgement that will ensue. In short, without the Holy Spirit man is imprisoned in his native corrupt sinful level of Being. There can be no intermingling of faith in Christ with personal feeble efforts or 'works'. Calvin termed the doctrine of justification by faith alone, "the main hinge". There then follows a brief overview, including extensive qoutations from Calvin's Institutes on 'justification alone'. What we need to exhibit before God's judgement seat is true humility, yielding to God's mercy - there is nothing left in ourselves that is not rotten. Continuing this discussion, insights from JC Ryle are presented which lend further support to Calvin's notes and fairly reveal the error of Roman Catholics. In a sense, none of this is necessary, being so obvious, but perhaps being so central to redemption it had to be hammered hard. So, Reymond admonishes us all to examine ourselves, to completely repudiate all of our own self-help efforts at salvation and put our trust in the Lamb's righteous life and sacrificial death.
[One unique fact about this short monograph is that it successfully binds the two Testaments into a Unified Whole. One always wants to see the Holy Bible in those terms but it is often a struggle to assemble it as such in one's mind due to the sheer depth and breadth of the material. Faith teaches correctly, so in the heart one knows but the mind is ever lagging behind in these things. Reymond does a wonderful job bridging these two testaments, and yet - and this is important - from the outset he claims to make no claims, no new theories, no innovations or novelties, instead he presents in a succinct manner the case for what is historical and biblical, that is Federal or Covenant Theology.]
