Which mentioned most?
November 9, 2011 (Wednesday)
Yesterday’s blog got me to thinking, “How many animals are mentioned in the Bible?” My source says 138. Which animal is mentioned the most? My source says “lamb.”
It is altogether proper and fitting that the lamb be mentioned more than any other animal, because it is emblematic of the Savior. Jesus is “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
In the beautiful fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah, which foreshadows the death of Christ at Calvary, one of the verses says, “”As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”—Isaiah 53:7 (KJV).
In the New Testament, the designation, “lamb,” is given most often by John, but Paul has this reference to the Passover Lamb: “For our passover also hath been sacrificed, [even] Christ” (1 Corinthiians 5:7 KJV). The hymn, “Lamb of God,” by Twila Paris, says it for us:
“Oh Lamb of God, Sweet lamb of God
I love the Holy Lamb of God
Oh wash me in His precious Blood
My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God.”
Over twenty references in the Book of Revelation refer to this lamb, and he is seen as “slain but standing” (Revelation 5:6). “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’ And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!'” (Revelation 5:12 NKJV).