The Lamb

The lamb runs through the whole Bible as the image of sacrifice. A lamb's blood on the doorposts spared Israel at the first Passover; lambs were offered morning and evening at the temple; and Isaiah pictured the coming servant as a lamb led to the slaughter, silent before its shearers. Abraham's words to Isaac — God will provide himself a lamb — hung over the whole story, waiting for an answer.

The answer came when John the Baptist pointed at Jesus: Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. At the cross the true Passover Lamb was slain. And in Revelation the slain Lamb stands alive at the centre of the throne, worshipped by all heaven — the sacrifice becomes the reigning King. No image tells the gospel more completely than the Lamb.