John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God twice in John 1:29 & 36. He also describes Him as the lamb that takes away the sin of the world. In 1st Peter 1:19, Peter states we have been redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot”. The title ‘Lamb’ is just one of the many symbolic titles assigned to Jesus in the bible.

When a person, or in this case an animal, is used as a representation of someone else, that reference is often referred to as a “type”, even though the word type is not used anywhere in the bible to describe this form of symbolism. In addition, many of the events recorded in the bible foretell, or prophesy, future events.

The New Testament refers to this type of symbolism as a shadow. The apostle Paul refers to the feasts and festivals celebrated by the Israelites in Old Testament times as shadows of things to come in Colossians 2:17.

The writer of the book of Hebrews refers to those who serve in the office of a priest as an example and shadow of heavenly things, and the laws governing the temple first constructed under the leadership of Moses as a shadow of good things to come in Hebrews 8:5 and 10:1.

When light shines on an object, a shadow appears on the opposite side of the object. The shadow looks like the object and moves like the object, but is not the object itself.

The same is true of many individuals, laws, rituals, and events in the bible. Symbolically speaking, this light shines from the future on events that have occurred, or have yet to occur, causing a shadow of that event to appear into the past.

For example, God used the event of instructing Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a shadow of the sacrifice of His son, Jesus. Abraham represented a type of God the Father and Isaac represented a type of Jesus.

In the Old Testament ritual of animal sacrifices, every animal also represented a type of Jesus, and the sacrifice of that animal represented the shadow of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. The most common animal used for these sacrifices was a lamb. This is why Jesus is referred to as the ‘Lamb of God’.

About the Author

Paul Bibbs, anointed Author and Founder of Truth In Action Ministries. Paul not only delivers the word of God to inmates in the Dallas County jail system but is available for speaking engagements, ministry and prayer requests.

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