3. The interest of these sacrificial requirements centres in the NT round the representation of Christ as 'the Lamb' (Rev 5^ 22^). To some ex- tent, of course, the figure is suggested by ' the meekness and gentleness of Christ ' (2 Co 10^, Mt IP®), tlie perfect realization in Him of the spirit of beautiful confidence and loving obedience wliicli we associate witli Ps 23 (cf. Ecce Homo, chs. i. and ii. jjp. 5, 6, 10, 12). But where the figure is ex- plained, it is always in a sacrificial sense : ' He was led as a sheep to the slaughter ' (Ac 8^^) ; ' re- deemed . . . with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, (even the blood) of Christ '(IP V^- ^®) ; 'a Lamb standing as though it had been slain ' ; ' worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain' (Rev 5"-^^); 'the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the world ' (Rev 13^). In the same way John the Baptist hailed Jesus of Nazareth as ' the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world' (Jn P®). It is superfluous to say (with Alford) that the reference is not to the Paschal lamb, ' which did not suggest atonement for sin ' ; on every day of the feast, as we have seen, lambs were ottered as a burnt-ottering ; and if it was not Passover - time when John spoke, his hearers would readily understand his meaning from the sin-ottering of the poor, or the morning and evening sacrifice of every day. These kept before the eyes of all Israelites the principle of substitu- tion, the surrender of another life for the human life that Avas forfeited or consecrated (He \\* 10^"). John may have uttered his prophecy at the tinie of the regular evening sacrifice, the time at which the prophecy was afterAvards to be fulfilled (Mt 27'*^) ; but the language of Is 53''-'2 would of itself explain the meaning of his words. The correspond- ence of Christ's death Avith a sin-offering is dis- tinctly assumed in He IS^^-^^ and St. Paul also sees in the occuiTence of that death at Passover- time the true PassoA^er sacrifice of the Lamb (1 Co S'). We need not be concerned to limit to any one
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ceremony the thought in the mind of the Baptist : the Lamb, in his words, was the atoning Lamb. Christ (as M. Dods suggests in Expos. Gr. Test.) may have revealed tlie trutli to him after the re- turn from the Temptation in the wilderness : He Himself three times foretold His coming death (Mt 16-1 17--i- aa 20>^- '") before He repeated the substance of John's prophecy as His own (Mt 20-^).
4. Christ is also ' the Good Shepherd ' ( Jn 10"- "), ' the Shepherd and Bishop (overseer, guardian) of souls '(IP 2^), ' the chief Shepherd '(IP 5^). His people are His flock (Jn 10^", Lk 12=*'-), as the chosen people of old were the flock of God (Ps 77^" 791^ 80^ 95'' 100^). As God undertook by tlie voice of His prophets to feed His flock (Ls 40", Ezk 34"- 1^), so Christ pledges Himself ' to give unto them eternal life ' ( Jn 10^**, cf. G'^"'^^), to ' guide them unto fountains of waters of life' (Rev 7^^). He requires of His sheep (Jn 10"-^) the life of unquestioning obedi- ence and trust which the Psalmist acce]its with such happy contentment (Ps 23) : He promises that no one shall snatch them out of His liand if they hear His voice and follow Him, if they make them- selves familiar Avitli Him {yiyvibaKovai, v.'^) as He makes it His concern to know them and to know the Father. When He speaks of 'the fold' in which they will find protection, He calls Himself ' the door ' ( Jn 10''""^') through which one must enter in to be made safe : He becomes the shepherd ^yy 11-16) as He passes from the thought of the fold to describe the flock. So later (Jn 14^) He says, ' I am the way,' before He calls Himself ' the truth and the life. ' No one ' fold ' can include all His sheep (Jn 10^®) : the flock is greater than the fold, the shepherd more essential than the iloor : and the one necessary condition of the Christian life is the personal devotion and obedi- ence to the living Shepherd. Where that condi- tion is observed, there may be many folds, ' other sheep' ; but He will know His own (v.^-*), and in the eyes of all at last ' they shall become one flock, one shepherd' (v.*").
In His more active ministry Christ found the appropriate figxire for His disciples in the patient hard-working cattle which ploughed the earth to prepare it for men's food, or carried the burdens of their daily life (Mt ll^a- so) ; work under His guidance with the meek and lowly spirit is the secret of rest. It was as the shadows of the end fell upon Him that He returned to the OT figure of the sheep of God's pasture : ' Fear not, little flock' (Lk 12^2)^ resumes the ' Be not afraid' of v.* at the close of the perilous scene when the crowded courtyard was His refuge from the hatred of His enemies (Lk 1 P''^'*). So the beautiful pictures and promises of Jn 10 belong to the time of danger (v.^^) in the closing winter (v.^-) of His life, when He was being forced into the retirement (v.'*'^) from which He came out at the risk of death to restore Lazarus to his sisters. The Shepherd's care of His sheep is the gospel first for the sorrowful and help- less : ' the whole portraiture of the Good Shepherd is a commentary on Is 53 ' (Westcott).