Bible glossary

What Does ‘The Lamb of God’ Mean in the Bible?

The Lamb of God is a title for Jesus that presents Him as the perfect sacrifice who takes away the sin of the world.

The image reaches back to the sacrificial lambs of the Old Testament, especially the Passover lamb whose blood spared God's people, and the daily offerings that pointed to the seriousness of sin. A lamb, innocent and unblemished, would die in the place of the guilty.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he cried, Behold the Lamb of God. It was a declaration that all those centuries of sacrifice were pointing to this one Person, the true and final Lamb whose death would actually take sin away.

Key verses

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
John 1:29

“He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”
Isaiah 53:7

“Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom.”
Revelation 5:12