III. THE LAMB OF GOD
John 1:29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” The Lamb of God signifies the Word in the flesh as the representation of all the offerings to accomplish God’s full redemption. Christ is the totality of all the offerings. He is not only the sin offering, but also the trespass offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the wave offering, the heave offering, the freewill offering, and the drink offering. With Christ as all the offerings we have God’s full salvation and full redemption. Through Christ as the Lamb of God representing all the offerings, we may enter into God and participate in the divine life and nature (John 3:14-15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Because of Christ as the Lamb of God, we are well able, even enabled, to enter into God. We may boldly come into God, knowing that God does not have the right to reject us, because we come through the Lamb. We have full redemption in Christ, and therefore we are enabled to enter into God to enjoy all that He is.
IV. THE DOVE UPON THE LAMB
According to John 1:32, John the Baptist testified, saying, “I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abode upon Him.” The One upon whom the Spirit descended was the Lamb. Matthew 3:16 says, “And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon Him.” Therefore, we have the Dove upon the Lamb. John the Baptist could testify that he saw a heavenly Dove descending upon the Lamb of God and abiding upon this Lamb. In this way the two, the Lamb and the Dove, became one entity. We may refer to this entity as a Dove-Lamb.
Some theologians use the term “pneumatic Christ.” The Dove-Lamb is the pneumatic Christ. The word pneumatic, meaning spiritual, is an adjective derived from the Greek word for spirit, pneuma. After His resurrection, Christ became the pneumatic Christ, the Dove-Lamb. However, many theologians and Bible teachers see Christ only as the Lamb, not as the Dove-Lamb. This means that they see only the Christ in the flesh, not the pneumatic Christ. Who is this pneumatic Christ? According to 1 Corinthians 15:45, He is the last Adam who has become the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is the pneumatic Christ. Today Christ is not merely the Lamb nor merely the Dove. He is the pneumatic Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the Dove-Lamb.
The Dove-Lamb signifies the Redeemer in the flesh, after accomplishing redemption, becoming the life-giving Spirit to impart the divine life into man. This is for man to be regenerated (John 3:5-6), transformed (2 Cor. 3:18), and built up into the house of God to express Him in a corporate way (1 Tim. 3:15-16). This is a marvelous vision that we all need to see. How I thank God that He has given us the light concerning this and the utterance to express it!
V. THE STONE
According to John 1:42, when the Lord Jesus first looked at Peter, He said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which translated means a stone).” The significance of a stone is that it denotes a work of transformation to bring forth material for God’s building (1 Cor. 3:12). The stone in John 1:42 signifies the believers in Christ, after being born of God, regenerated, by receiving Him (vv. 12-13) to be transformed into living precious stones. This is for the building of the church, the house of God (Matt. 16:18; 1 Pet. 2:5; 1 Cor. 3:12). How wonderful it is to be transformed into living precious stones for the building of the church!
(The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
