I thought I might start a new thread on this rather than derail a previous one!
As a believer, I read the Bible through having a personal relationship with God, and God has always shown me his love through Jesus Christ his son being the lamb of God, sacrificed and paying for sins of all (and mine) with his blood.
Lambs in the Bible have been a constant sacrificial animal, representing goodness, obedience etc. Passover lambs were an important part of the OT story, as it was a lambs blood on the doorposts of those who obeyed God that spared the Hebrews from dying from plague.
there are other animals too in the Bible used as sacrifices - goats, ox, doves.
There are clean and unclean animals.
Then there's beasts of prey as well - lions, bears, leopards, wolves. In the Bible these animals are of course feared. They are top of the food chain and will hunt down and kill others to satisfy their need for meat. Many times in the Bible, Satan is depicted as a hungry lion seeking whom he may devour. But also in the bible, sometimes God is like a lion, leopard and bear to unbelieving tribes who were idolatrous. (this is in Hosea) . In Revelation, Jesus is depicted as the lamb of God, but also, his innocent death is actually avenged through the plagues, called the wrath of the lamb, and creatures like locusts, their shape like horse, but also come with faces of men and teeth like lions breathing fire with stings in their tails.
When armageddon happens, its the birds that eat the dead bodies of men killed.
But interesting that a constant throughout the Bible right to the very end is the image of the lamb. For believers are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Now lambs often get overlooked in the hierarchy of animals that are popular these days. They arent' fierce like lions, aren't strong like eagles, not huge and powerful like bears can be made out to be or independent like goats. They arent cunning or quick like wolves. Of all the animals, lambs would probably be the least you'd want to have representing you. And yet Jesus is the lamb of God.
I just find it interesting that God uses these creatures to show us what He is like.
Thoughts? discuss...over to you..!
As a believer, I read the Bible through having a personal relationship with God, and God has always shown me his love through Jesus Christ his son being the lamb of God, sacrificed and paying for sins of all (and mine) with his blood.
Lambs in the Bible have been a constant sacrificial animal, representing goodness, obedience etc. Passover lambs were an important part of the OT story, as it was a lambs blood on the doorposts of those who obeyed God that spared the Hebrews from dying from plague.
there are other animals too in the Bible used as sacrifices - goats, ox, doves.
There are clean and unclean animals.
Then there's beasts of prey as well - lions, bears, leopards, wolves. In the Bible these animals are of course feared. They are top of the food chain and will hunt down and kill others to satisfy their need for meat. Many times in the Bible, Satan is depicted as a hungry lion seeking whom he may devour. But also in the bible, sometimes God is like a lion, leopard and bear to unbelieving tribes who were idolatrous. (this is in Hosea) . In Revelation, Jesus is depicted as the lamb of God, but also, his innocent death is actually avenged through the plagues, called the wrath of the lamb, and creatures like locusts, their shape like horse, but also come with faces of men and teeth like lions breathing fire with stings in their tails.
When armageddon happens, its the birds that eat the dead bodies of men killed.
But interesting that a constant throughout the Bible right to the very end is the image of the lamb. For believers are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Now lambs often get overlooked in the hierarchy of animals that are popular these days. They arent' fierce like lions, aren't strong like eagles, not huge and powerful like bears can be made out to be or independent like goats. They arent cunning or quick like wolves. Of all the animals, lambs would probably be the least you'd want to have representing you. And yet Jesus is the lamb of God.
I just find it interesting that God uses these creatures to show us what He is like.
Thoughts? discuss...over to you..!