Explaining Jesus to Muslims
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9. Jesus, the Lamb of God

To understand why Jesus is called the Lamb of God, we need to go back to the Torah and study the meaning of animal sacrifice. We will first of all look at the example of Abraham who was asked by God to sacrifice his son and then God provided him with a sheep instead, as this sacrifice is still enacted by Muslims today.

Abraham offers Isaac  (Read Genesis 22:1-19)

Abraham (Ibrahim) had two sons, Ishmael (Sumaila) and Isaac (Izaaku). Ishmael was born of a slave girl named Hagar (Hajaratu) while Isaac was born in Abraham's old age by his wife Sarah (Saramatu) who had been barren before God miraculously caused her to conceive. Isaac was Abraham's only legal son and it was through him and his descendants that God said he would accomplish his promises to Abraham. So imagine Abraham's surprise when God asked him to take his son Isaac (now 15 years old) and sacrifice him on top of a certain mountain. (The mosque of Omar in Jerusalem is built over the traditional site) Abraham trusted God, and either believed that God would intervene before he killed Isaac or else that God would raise him from the dead.

On the way up the mountain Isaac asked his father where the animal for the sacrifice was. Abraham replied that the Lord would provide. Abraham built an altar, then he tied up his son and was about to kill him, when an angel came and told him to stop. He had passed the test, he had not kept back his only son from God. God did provide a sheep there and Abraham sacrificed it in place of his son. Abraham named the place "The Lord will provide". The Lord promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his descendants, because he obeyed his command. What does this incident teach us? Let us compare it with the death of Jesus.

• God gave his only Son as a sacrifice. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
• Jesus, the lamb provided by God, died in our place, just as the ram died in Isaac's place.
• Jesus was sacrificed on the cross on the same mountain at Jerusalem, fulfilling Abraham's prophecy "The Lord will provide."
• All nations are blessed through the death of Jesus, a descendant of Isaac, because Jesus died for the sins of the world so that God could forgive our sins.

The Passover (Read Exodus 12:21-26)

The Israelites were enslaved to the Egyptians. God raised up Moses (Musa) to lead his people out of Egypt and back to Palestine, the land that God had promised to Isaac's descendants. God had sent down nine plagues on Pharaoh (Fira’auna) and the Egyptians and there was one last plague left. At midnight all the first born sons of the Egyptians would die. So that the first born sons of the Israelites would not die when the angel of death passed overhead, God told Moses to tell the Israelites to take a lamb or a goat without any defect, to kill it and sprinkle the blood over their door-posts and above the door. When the angel of death passed over at midnight and saw the blood, he did not kill the first born in that house, but the first born in the houses of the Egyptians were killed. After that the Israelites were able to escape from Egypt.

The Israelites were told by God to celebrate this deliverance each year as a reminder of how he had redeemed them and saved them from slavery in Egypt. What does this incident teach us? Let us compare it with the death of Jesus.

• Jesus died on the day before the Israelites celebrated the Passover festival, when a lamb was killed by each household to commemorate Israel's exodus from Egypt.
• As the blood of the lamb saved the Israelites in Egypt, so it is the shed blood of Jesus that saves us. "For you know that it was not with perishable things like silver or gold that you were redeemed from that empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." (1 Peter 1:18-19)
• Jesus' death saves us from the present evil world, just as the blood of the lamb saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
• Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples the night before he died, relating it to his death on the cross. (Read Mark 14:12-25) Jesus took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them and they all drank from it.

"This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many" he said to them. So instead of sacrificing a lamb as the Jews did, Christians now celebrate Jesus' death by partaking of a fellowship meal where the bread and the wine are symbolic of Jesus' body and blood.

The covenant made with Moses  (Read Exodus 24:1-8)

After God had given his law to Moses, the covenant between God and Israel had to formally sealed. So Moses read the law to them and the people said: "Everything the Lord has said we will do." The next morning he built an altar and animals were sacrificed to God. Moses then took the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkled half of it on the altar. Then he read the law again and the people again said they would obey it. Then Moses sprinkled the rest of the blood over the law and the people and said: "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these commands."

The book of Hebrews chapter 9 verses 18-22 is a commentary on this passage from the book of Exodus. It says: "This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said: 'This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.' In the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

Jesus, the perfect Lamb

The Bible has two parts, the Old Testament or Old Covenant which consists of the Torah, the Zabur and the Prophets, and the New Testament or New Covenant which is also known as the Injil. The old covenant was an agreement made between God and Israel with Moses as the mediator. The new covenant was made between God and all mankind with Jesus as the mediator. The first covenant was sealed with the blood of animals, while the second covenant was sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ, the perfect lamb having no defect or flaw. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. The sacrifices required by the law of Moses were temporary and symbolic of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. His blood, representing the life of a perfect man is the only blood that can effectively remove sin and it is effective for ever. That is why when the prophet John the Baptist (Yahya) saw Jesus, he said about him:

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)

In a vision the apostle John saw a Lamb in heaven standing in the centre of the throne of God, and those present sang a new song in his honour.

"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on earth."

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creature and the elders. In a loud voice they said:

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise." (Revelation 5:9-11)

Jesus died for all the inhabitants of the world. His blood was shed so that you might have your sins forgiven. Will you put your trust in him? The blood of Jesus will never let you down!