“The Lamb of God” is one of the titles that the New Testament gives to Jesus Christ. This title finds its roots in the Old Testament, especially in the great prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, without forgetting that the Paschal lamb symbolizes redemption and salvation from slavery. God commanded the Hebrews, when He wanted to expel them from the land of Egypt, where they were slaves, for each family to slaughter “a lamb without blemish, a yearling male” (Exodus 12:5), eat it, and sprinkle its blood on the two doorposts and its upper lintel. Thanks to this sign, the angel sent to strike all the firstborn Egyptians redeems them. Here it is worth noting that the word “Passover” in Arabic means crossing, that is, moving from one state to another. Here, Passover means crossing from slavery to freedom.

Aries is an example of everything that is pure, innocent, and does not resist evil. Therefore, we find in many books of the New Testament that Christ is represented by a lamb. This depiction comes from the Old Testament in two different directions.

The first direction is humility and submission to the will of the Lord, and enduring persecution and adversity. In the Old Testament, when the Prophet Jeremiah was persecuted by his enemies, he likened himself to a lamb being led to the slaughter, “And I was like a tame lamb being led to the slaughter…” (Jeremiah 11:19). This image was later applied to the servant of the Lord, as he was about to die to atone for the sins of his people, and appear “…like a sheep led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before those who shear him, and he did not open his mouth…” (13:52-7:53).

The second direction is redemption. In the Book of Genesis, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, the boy asked his father: “Where is the lamb for sacrifice?” Abraham replied that God would bring it. In fact, Isaac was not sacrificed, but a lamb was slaughtered in his place and was found there (Genesis 22:1-19). Church tradition from ancient times saw this incident as an announcement of Christ’s sacrifice. We also find mention of the Lamb in the Book of Exodus, when the Hebrews were redeemed with his blood from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-13): When the Hebrews left the land of Egypt, Moses called the elders of the people and ordered that each family slaughter a lamb without blemish and place a mark with its blood on the door of the house, so that the people of the house would be saved. One of the calamities that befell the Egyptians. And so it was. The Hebrews celebrated Passover (which means the word in Hebrew to pass over) and they ate lamb while standing because they were in a hurry.

But the true Easter Lamb who offered himself for our salvation is Christ. He is the one to whom John the Baptist testified when he saw them coming to him on the banks of the Jordan: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Also, the Apostle Peter, in his letter, speaks of Christ as the Lamb of God: “And you know that you were not ransomed for money that perishes with silver or gold..,. Rather, with the precious blood of the Lamb, without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ. And he was chosen before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:18-20).

The tradition, which sees in Christ the true Easter Lamb, goes back to the beginning of Christianity. The Apostle Paul asked the believers of the Corinthian church to live a life of purity because “our Passover Lamb, which is Christ, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Also in the Gospel of John, the chronological order of Christ’s death was on this basis. Jesus was handed over to death on the eve of the Passover, “and that day was the day of preparation for the Passover...” (John 19:14 and 31), that is, the day on which the law required the slaughter of the Passover lamb, “and it shall remain with you until the fourteenth day...” (Exodus 12:6) . After he gave up his soul, the soldiers did not break his legs like they broke the legs of the other crucified people: “Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and the other who were crucified with him. As for Jesus, when they reached him and saw that he was dead, they did not break his legs” (John 19:22-23), and this was also applied to the Paschal lamb: “And do not break a bone of it” (Exodus 12:45). The Evangelist John sees this incident as an implementation of a ritual law related to the Paschal lamb: “This happened to fulfill the Scripture” (John 19:26).

The Book of Revelation speaks about the Lamb in several places, so we find that Christ is the Paschal Lamb (Revelation 5:9-10), but the writer of the book added a new image to the image of the slain Lamb, which is the liberation of the people of God who believe in Him (Revelation 5:5-6, 12: 11). He now shares God’s throne (Revelation 22:1-3), and to Him belongs “blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever” (Revelation 5:13). His victory over the forces of evil confirms that he is: “Lord of lords and King of kings” (Reuel 17:14). The Book of Revelation speaks about the wedding of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7, 21:9) with the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, that is, the church, and describes it at length: “I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God Almighty, and He and the Lamb are its temple, and the city has no need of the sun or the moon to give light.” In it, because the glory of God has illuminated it, and the Lamb is its lamp, and the peoples of the saved walk in its light” (Revelation 21:22-24).

Through the effectiveness of the one sacrifice that the Lord Jesus completed on the cross, we celebrate the Divine Mass in which we meet the Lord Jesus, the slain Lamb, presented in the form of an offering to the divine altar. Since this offering is transformed by the coming of the Holy Spirit, body and blood, it is given to the believers in Communion as a token of the salvation coming on the last day.

In the New Testament, Christ is the only true Passover Lamb, and therefore the only Redeemer. This is confirmed by many of the apostles who wrote the books of the New Testament. The Apostle Paul urges the Christians of Corinth to live in purity and truth, since “Christ has been sacrificed for our Passover” (5:7). The Apostle Peter also reminds the believers in his first letter of the redemption accomplished by Christ, saying: “But with the precious blood of the Lamb, without blemish or spot, which is Christ” (1:19). Then the same writer uses the image of the Passover to indicate that the believers, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, have become “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and an acquired people, that you may declare the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). If Easter in the past meant moving from one land to another, now the sacrifice of Christ means moving from darkness to light.

This same burden is mentioned by the Apostle John the Evangelist through Saint John the Baptist, who called on his disciples to leave him and accompany Jesus, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29 and 36). The intention of the writer of this Gospel is not known when he says that Christ is the Lamb of God except when he talks about the cross. Then the reader knows that what is meant by the Lamb is the one who was crucified, “whose leg will not be broken” (John 19:36), and that is in fulfillment of God’s command that no leg be broken. Passover lambs (Exodus 12:46). If we follow the chronological order of the evangelist himself, we find that Christ was handed over to death on the afternoon of the day of preparation (John 19:14), at the same hour that the law required the slaughter of lambs in the temple.

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews expands on the concept of redemption through the blood of Christ, comparing the sacrifices of the Old Testament and Christ’s sacrifice in the New Testament, “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer is sprinkled on the defiled, sanctifying them for the cleansing of the body, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself to God without blemish, purify your consciences.” From dead works to serve the living God” (9: 13014). Christ's offering of Himself as a sacrificial lamb established the New Testament. The Old Covenant was established between God and the people by Moses using the blood of animals, while Christ established a new covenant with his own blood. The Church Fathers saw in the blood and water that came out of him on the cross (John 19:34) a symbol of the sacraments of baptism and thanksgiving and a symbol of the birth of the Church through baptism and its unity in the sacrament of thanksgiving.

Christ never presented himself as a military leader who would liberate the people from tyranny, but rather he always said that he would be handed over, crucified, and rise on the third day. As for the basic image that foretells this fate, it is the image of the servant of the Lord that Isaiah draws in his book when he says: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before those who shear him was silent, and he did not open his mouth” (53:7). Christians understood from the beginning that this prophecy was fulfilled by the crucifixion of Christ, as Philip did when he interpreted this text to the Ethiopian eunuch. The Evangelists cite this same text when they explain that Christ remained silent before the council that judged him (Matthew 26:63), and that Pilate did not answer anything (John 9:19). Saint Ephrem the Syrian (+ 373) says about this silence: “There are those who win through arguments (i.e. defensive arguments), but our Lord won with His silence... He only opened His mouth to teach and remained silent before the court... The words of His enemies were nothing but a crown on His head.”

In many passages, the writer of Revelation emphasizes Christ - the Paschal Lamb. He is a slain lamb, and at the same time he triumphs over the forces of evil, shares God’s throne, and has divine authority: “And every creature that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that is in the sea and all that is in them I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and dominion to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever” (5 : 13). He is the bride of the church (19:7 and 9), and he leads her to eternal life: “For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to the springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (7:17).

Origen, one of the greatest teachers of the church in the third century, wonders if what is meant by the world in the testimony of Saint John the Baptist, when he said: “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), is the church exclusively. Origen answers himself in the negative, citing the First Epistle of Saint John: “And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world” (2:2). Christ has no limits, and His salvation has no limits.

From my parish bulletin 1996 + 1999, adapted