"Worthy Is the Lamb"
24" x 24" Oil on Canvas
Throughout the Bible there are analogies of sheep and shepherds to illustrate the relationship between God and His people. In John we read, " My sheep listen to my voice, I know them, they follow me." Isaiah writes that "like sheep we have gone astray." Psalm 23 says, "the Lord is my shepherd and he makes me lie down in green pastures." Matthew writes that, "Jesus saw crowds and had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd."
It gives us a sense of God's desire to lead, protect, and guide His people. In Luke when we read that the shepherd would leave the ninety-nine to go after the one lost sheep, we get a glimpse of God's deep love for His people and how valuable each one is to Him. We are invited into this profound connection between a shepherd and his flock and that starts to help us understand our relationship with God. But then we come into a deeper revelation of this relationship when Jesus tells us that a good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.(John 10:11) A foreshadow of what's to come.
In this laying down, Jesus goes from the good shepherd to the Lamb of God. (John 1:29) This title for Jesus ties together the Old Testament's sacrificial system where lambs were offered as a covering or atonement for sin. Jesus becomes the fulfillment of the law in the laying down and reconciles the world to Himself. It's here I'm taken by the complexity of Christ as both shepherd and lamb.
The phrase, "worthy is the lamb," comes from the book of Revelation where the One is on the throne holding a scroll that no one in heaven or on earth is worthy to open. An angel declares, in what feels like a hopeless moment, that there is one and it is the Lamb standing in the midst of the throne and all gathered. The Lamb takes the scroll and the heavenly choir erupts:
“You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood. Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
The word 'worthy' in Greek has a root meaning of weighing, or having the weight of another thing of value, like a scale. In Hebrew, there is a word for worthy that can mean fitting but it comes from the root word 'to see.' What this says to me is that the Lamb of God carries within Himself something of equal value or weight to God. He is worthy because He is the one who sees and is seen by God. This word for seeing is so rich it can also mean best friend!
In Psalm 23, where it says the Lord is my shepherd, the word shepherd comes from the same root word we just looked at above meaning to see. A shepherd is also one who sees and knows His sheep. Through this one word, ra'ah, we can see a connection between the word worthy and shepherd. It was hard for me to understand how Christ could be both shepherd and a lamb, but this word study has led me to see the connection is deeper than I could have imagined. The Good Shepherd is the Worthy Lamb of God. The one who sees - is the one who loves and the one who lays down His life for the sheep. Worthy is the lamb.
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:13)
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