Why is Jesus called the Lamb of God?
"You were set free from an empty way of life. This way of life was handed down to you by your own people of long ago. You know that you were not bought with things that can pass away, like silver or gold. Instead, you were bought with the priceless blood of Christ. He is a perfect lamb. He doesn’t have any flaws at all" (1 Peter 1:18–19).
"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, 'Look! The Lamb of God! He takes away the sin of the world!'" (John 1:29).
Before Jesus died on the cross for our sins, people had to kill perfect animals like lambs for their sins. This was called a sacrifice. Jesus is called the Lamb of God because He sacrificed Himself for us.The Bible says, "When you sin, the pay you get is death..." (Romans 6:23). God is perfect and just (which means everything He does is right and fair), so He has to punish sin. We’re all sinners, and we deserve to be punished. But God doesn’t want us to have to die for our sins! He also can’t have a close relationship with sinners. Back when Adam and Eve first sinned in the garden of Eden, God promised to send someone to die in our place and take our punishment. But until that time, the people would have to make sacrifices for their sins. Very often, people would sacrifice lambs, which are baby sheep. (You can read more about sacrifices in Exodus 29:38–42.) The sheep’s blood would "cover" the people’s sins for a short time. But these sacrifices weren’t enough to cover
all their sins for all time, so people had to keep doing them over and over.
It’s sad that innocent lambs had to die for people’s sins. But the sacrifice had to be perfect (without sin), in order to take the sin of the people. God was also showing people that their sin was the reason something perfect had to die. But we don’t have to sacrifice lambs anymore, because Jesus came to be the perfect sacrifice for all time! He was born on earth, and He lived a life without sin. Then, when He was an adult, He died on the cross for our sins. Then He rose from the dead three days later to show that He won the victory over sin and death. Because Jesus died and rose again, anyone who believes in Him and follows Him can be forgiven of sin. That’s why Jesus is called the Lamb of God—He was the best and last sacrifice we would ever need for our sin!
