Lamb of God / Suffering Servant

Editor's note: Jesus came to save sinners unable to save themselves. The human race is under the curse of death for the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Because God is holy and perfectly just, He cannot abide sin and unrighteousness.  Thus, mankind is alienated from God. Yet in his love and mercy, God announced his plan to redeem his chosen people through a savior to come, by which our alienation could be rectified. We learn in Scripture that "without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins." (Heb. 9:22).  In the Old Testament, God set up a means for the Israelites to have their sins forgiven through a sacrificial system involving the shedding of lambs' and other animals' blood. This system merely foreshadowed the real and perfect sacrifice to come via the Son of God who would shed his own blood, once and for all,  for all of God's people. The allusions to Christ as a sacrificial lamb are poignantly expressed in John 1 and Isaiah 53, as well as in other passages, presented below.

Isaiah 53

4  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

 6 All we like sheep have gone astray;  we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see[j] and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,  and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

John 1

29 The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son[i] of God.”

1 Pet.