Hymn Study - The Lamb

1. The Lamb, the Lamb, O Father, where's the sacrifice? Faith sees, believes God will provide the Lamb of price! Worthy is the Lamb Whose death makes me His own! The Lamb is reigning on His throne! 2. The Lamb, the Lamb, One perfect final offering. The Lamb, the Lamb, Let earth join Heaven His praise to sing. Worthy is the Lamb Whose death makes me His own! The Lamb is reigning on His throne! 3. The Lamb, the Lamb, As wayward sheep their shepherd kill So still, His will On our behalf the Law to fill. Worthy is the Lamb Whose death makes me His own! The Lamb is reigning on His throne! 4. He sighs, He dies, He takes my sin and wretchedness. He lives, forgives, He gives me His own righteousness. Worthy is the Lamb Whose death makes me His own! The Lamb is reigning on His throne! 5. He rose, He rose, My heart with thanks now overflows. His song prolong Till every heart to Him belong. Worthy is the Lamb Whose death makes me His own! The Lamb is reigning on His throne!

Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. That’s some really powerful imagery. I think when most of us think of a lamb we conjure images of a very cute, fluffy, innocent animal. That kind of fits Jesus perfectly, doesn’t it? A kind, gentle Savior who loves us. In fact, some could say we project images of some of our most precious pets, per say a puppy who is man’s best friend and loves us unconditionally on this animal. In 2nd Samuel Nathan tells David of a poor man who loved his lamb like a child, much like we do our pets.

Lambs are precious lovely little animals, but lambs also conjure up another image. Probably more so to those who celebrated the Passover. God commanded Moses to tell the Hebrew in Egypt that for each family, they were to take a lamb, just only a year old, without blemish and slaughter it. They were to eat the entire animal or burn what remained and put the blood of the animal on the top and sides of their doors so they would be passed over when the Lord arrived to take the lives of the first born who didn’t obey. They were then to commemorate this event across generations.

Jesus fits the image of that lamb too; a sacrifice, perfect, innocent, without blemish for those who could not save themselves. Their salvation only found in the blood of another. Sin requires death, both physical and spiritually. Jesus’ sacrifice was the final sacrifice for all generations. No longer would we need to bring an animal to an alter or put blood on our door frames.

But it doesn’t hurt to combine these two images when we think of Jesus to this day. A lamb, a lovely little animal, incapable of any malice put to death because of those who do commit malice and deceit and greed and any of the other things that make our souls cringe. A lamb does not seem worthy of death. Neither does our Savior, yet here He is, sacrificing Himself. A lamb does not sacrifice itself out of love for us, instead, a believer had to force its death. Much like how we have done with Jesus. While Jesus marched toward His victory on the cross, He received a lot of help in the way of pushing and whipping. He received a lot of pushing toward the cross with reminders in the way of daily sinfulness.

The hymn starts by asking God the Father to provide the sacrifice. Much like Abraham, we trust in God to provide our sacrifice. Much like Abraham, God did provide a sacrifice in the place of us and our children so that we would not have to be put to death.

The hymn then stresses the importance of Jesus as the perfect sacrifice, He is not a sheep who strays, much like us, rather He lives the Law perfectly on behalf of the other sheep. Through this, no matter how sinful we are, and regardless of the evil that has taken over our minds and bodies, He takes it to the cross and gives us holiness. The Father looks on us as being righteous.

Our lamb, the final sacrifice lives. He conquered not just His death, but ours as well. We have no fear of needing to sacrifice; to atone for the evil done with blood. The lamb not only is a perfect lamb, but He is also the shepherd. We are all Jesus’ lambs now, we belong to Him. We are no longer wayward sheep. We are guided by Him, we are provided for by Him and we are loved by Him.

Finally, with every verse we declare that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. He is worthy of Heavenly glory and through Him we are also. Not only is He worthy of Heavenly glory but He has received it and now reigns on His throne in Heaven, among the lambs who have been blessed by being called home and to us, who wait to join Him where we will be with Him forever.