The Bible is God’s progressive revelation of Jesus Christ, each revelation building upon the one before until they reach a climax with the second coming of Jesus Christ to set up His millennial kingdom on the earth. God’s redeeming love is revealed as God and man meet in the one who is the God-Man (Jesus). Not only does God reveal His truths progressively through the Bible, He actually revealed these truths progressively in history as well. All salvation history is progressive and is meant to parallel Scripture. We should all read the Bible remembering that God is laying out His salvation plan in the Bible by progressive revelation of Jesus Christ alongside world history. God’s use of the Bible doctrine of the Lamb is an example of progressive revelation whereby He uses a lamb as a metaphor for Christ. God uses the backdrop of history to progressively reveal that Jesus is the perfect lamb without blemish who will die on the cross to redeem mankind. Please note the ten Bible passages that follow:
1. Genesis 4:4 – “Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat (a lamb). And the Lord respected Abel and his offering”. This shows the necessity of the shed blood of the lamb.
2. Genesis 22:13 – “Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son”. This shows it is God who will provide the sacrificial lamb.
3. Exodus 12:23 – “For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood (of a lamb) on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses and strike you”. This shows the blood of a slain lamb protects those it covers.
4. Leviticus 22:21 – “And whoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, to fulfill a vow, or a freewill offering from the cattle or sheep (a lamb), it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it”. This shows the sacrificial lamb has to be perfect and without blemish.
5. Isaiah 53:6-8 – “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. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgement, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken”. This reveals the sacrificial lamb God will provide for the forgiveness of our sins is a person.