A Lamb and Shepherd

In the scriptures in seemingly opposing metaphors, Christ is represented as both as the Lamb and the Shepherd.  Though a lamb and the shepherd appear to have little in common, both representations of the Savior are an important part of who He is and what His mission was.  The metaphors are important in teaching us to both follow the Savior in all that He did as well as understanding the ultimate sacrifice He performed in the most humbling act of human history. 

The scriptures referring to Him are our Shepherd are numerous.  He told His disciples during His mortal ministry, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep…. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:14, 27).  Paul spoke of Him as “that great shepherd of the sheep” and Peter called the Savior “the chief Shepherd” (Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 5:4).  Alma taught the people of Zarahemla, “Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ” (Alma 5:38).  Samuel the Lamanite spoke of those in the last days who would “again be brought to the true knowledge, which is the knowledge of their Redeemer, and their great and true shepherd, and be numbered among his sheep” (Helaman 15:13).  Mormon lamented those in his days who “had Christ for their shepherd” but ultimately rejected Him.  In our dispensation the Savior again affirmed the validity of the metaphor saying, “Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel” (D&C 50:44).  There’s no question that the scriptures teach us to view the Savior as the One whom we should follow and heed in the same manner as the sheep that heed none but their shepherd. 

References to Christ as the Lamb are even more frequent in the scriptures. All four canonical books testify of Him as the Lamb.  In the New Testament John the Baptist said as he saw Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).  The book of Revelation is filled with references to Christ as the Lamb.  For example, John saw those in heaven in the presence of Jesus and described it this way: “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters” (Revelation 7:17).    In the Book of Mormon Nephi’s vision describes the Savior as the Lamb of God multiple times.  For example, he described the righteous in the last days by saying that he saw “the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb” (1 Nephi 14:14).  In the Pearl of Great Price we read, “Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, even in the flesh; and his soul rejoiced, saying: The Righteous is lifted up, and the Lamb is slain from the foundation of the world” (Moses 7:47).  Knowing that Jesus is the Lamb invites us to seek the kind of humility, love, and longsuffering that He showed as He was made the sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the world. 

                In one of my favorite references to the Lamb, John described seeing those “which follow the Lamb withersoever he goeth” (Revelation 14:4).  So Jesus would act as a Shepherd to be followed even while performing the sacrificial duties of the Lamb.  Interestingly, in Nephi’s vision both representations of Jesus were used in a single verse.  The angel told Nephi, “The words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed, as well as in the records of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; wherefore they both shall be established in one; for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth” (1 Nephi 13:41).  We revere Christ both one who is to be followed (our Shepherd) and one who followed His Father perfectly (the Lamb).  In our own lives I think we have the same dichotomy: at times we must be leaders and seek to teach and guide others to salvation, but at other times we must find the humility of lambs within us to do the will of our Father.