Day 356: Revelation 5:5–14

Blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the One seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever! (v. 13).

Genesis 1:24–25 tells of the creation of animal life. In the midst of countless creatures, hoofed and not, God created the lamb. I happen to think God is the sentimental type. It shows throughout Scripture, and we as sentimental people were created in His image. I don’t think He created the lamb with little notice. He knew the profound significance He would cause this small, helpless creature to have. Adam wasn’t created until after the animals. God saved what He considered His best for last. But I think the fact that a lamb was created before a man is quite fitting because throughout the Old Testament, man would require a heap of them.

After sin cost Adam and Eve paradise, “the Lord God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them” (Gen. 3:21 hcsb). This is the first reference to a sacrificial death. Since God dressed them with a skin, we know an animal perished for them to be covered. We have no way of knowing whether the animal was a lamb, but I can hardly picture it any other way.

Genesis 4:4 records the first sacrificial offering. “Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions” (hcsb). Cain brought an offering of fruit, but the Lord looked with favor on Abel’s offering.

Not coincidentally, from the moment in Scripture that life appears outside the garden, we see sacrificial offerings. God wasn’t partial to Abel. He was partial to Abel’s offering. When not distinguished otherwise, a flock almost always refers to sheep in Scripture. From the Old Testament to the New, the Lord looks with favor upon those symbolically covered by the blood of the Lamb. Verse 7 hints that Cain knew the right thing to do and had the same chance to bring a sacrificial offering. The basic tenet of all biblical rebellion is refusing the blood of the lamb.

Genesis 22 contains the account of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac in obedience to God. Far from coincidence, the first time in Scripture the word “lamb” is used is in Genesis 22. Fittingly, the words “sacrifice” and “worship” are introduced in the same chapter, and the word “love” appears for only the second time.

Just before Abraham actually killed his son as an offering to God, the angel of the Lord intervened. God provided a substitute sacrifice in the form of a ram caught in the thicket. I was thrilled when I read the following definition of ayil, the word for “ram”: “a male sheep generally more aggressive and protective of the flock.” Jesus our Lamb is indeed aggressively protective of the flock—even to the spilling of His blood. Galatians calls this drama the gospel preached in advance to Abraham (Gal. 3:8; Rom. 9:7). Glory!

We cannot find a more perfect Old Testament picture of the blood of the sacrificial lamb than the one that’s recorded in Exodus 12. The final plague against Egypt came in the form of the death of the firstborn. Every Hebrew family found protection through the Passover lamb’s blood on the doorpost.

So the concept of substitutionary atonement that unfolded immediately outside the Garden of Eden echoed like a sermon from Isaac’s Mt. Moriah, dripped from the doorposts of captive Israel, and remained constant throughout the Old Testament. Innumerable animals were sacrificed throughout the centuries at the altars of the tabernacle and the temple. So many were sacrificed at the dedication of Solomon’s temple that they couldn’t be counted.

Yet Israel repeatedly fell into idolatry. And after sending the prophets with warnings, Old Testament Scripture comes to an abrupt halt—but not without a promise: “Look, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome Day of the Lord comes” (Mal. 4:5 hcsb). According to Matthew 11:12–14, John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy. Look at the first words from John the Baptist’s mouth when he saw Jesus: “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 hcsb).

Luke 22 records the last supper Christ shared with His disciples. Because a Jewish day begins just after sundown and lasts until the next, Christ was actually crucified on the very same “day” they ate their final meal together. According to Luke 22:14 that day was when Jesus’ hour had come.

Oh, do you realize we’ve only seen a glimpse, yet look at the consistency! A lamb, the lamb, the Lamb! So that we wouldn’t miss the woolen thread, this book of the Bible that brings all things to completion shouts this title like triumphant bursts from a ram’s horn. Not once. Not twice. But twenty-eight times! The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for the salvation of the world.

Man can shake his arrogant fist all he wants, but he will never shake God. The plan is firm. No plan B exists. All things are going just as He knew they would. We look around us and hang our heads over the miserable estate of this lost, depraved world. And all the while God sits upon His throne saying, “As long as man has breath, I have a Lamb.”