Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

Understanding Biblical Symbolism


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LAMB OF GOD

A symbol of the Divine Sacrifice. The Logos having been emanated from the Absolute limits his nature in the act of manifestation through forms of matter.

"And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him (the beast), every one whose name hath not been written in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the world." - REV. xiii. 8.

And all the lower qualities shall serve the desire-mind; every quality whose differentiation is not of the higher order and an expression of the Life of the Divine sacrifices itself at the the universe, shall be lower principle (beast) for a period.

On looking into the boat of the Sun-god we see that this deity has transformed himself, and that he no longer appears as a fiery disk, but as a Ram-headed man, who stands within a shrine; in other words Rå has taken the form of Osiris in order that he may pass successfully through the kingdom of the dead, whose lord and god is Osiris. The name given to this form is Af, or Afu, which means literally flesh,' and ' a dead body'; it was as a dead body that Osiris first entered the Tuat, and those who wished to become what he became subsequently, had to enter the Tuat as dead bodies and with the attributes wherewith he entered it." - BUDGE, Egyyt. Heaven and Hell, Vol. III. p. 106.

This refers to the Logos (Ra) entering the life-cycle (Tuat) in the world-soul (boat). The symbolical imagery of the Ram's head signifies that the Logos thereby sacrifices himself (as the Lamb) and becomes hidden in matter, and as it were dead. The God cabined within the shrine of the human heart is the Incarnate Deity (Afu, flesh) crucified in matter, as all souls are crucified. For all souls, or sparks of the Divine, who wished to become what He became subsequently (when He rose triumphant from the dead), had also to enter the lower nature as dead in Osiris (Christ) and with the qualities and potencies wherewith He entered it.

"For if we have become united with him by the likeness of his death, we shall be also by the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with hm." - Rom. vi. 5-8.

It is through the Divine Life (the slain Lamb) within the soul that the "body of sin," the desire-nature,- is gradually dissipated, (washed away by the "blood of the Lamb "), and the soul freed from bondage to matter.

"Looking back upon history, or down upon the brute creation, or into the individual human heart today, it is impossible to avoid a feeling of horror at the tragedy of it all. It is the passion of God on the cross of the world; it is Deity being slain on the altar of time to rise in power in the solemn splendour of the eternal morning." - R. J. CAMPBELL, Serm., God's Uses of Time.

"The universe is fundamentally spiritual; being what we are we can come to no other conclusion; but in that very fact there lies a stern and dreadful necessity, the necessity for the cross. It must be as true of God as it is true of you that the cross is the condition of highest self-realisation; the cross is eternally in the heart of the Father or he could be neither love nor joy, nor would his holiness have meaning and power. . .What one dimly perceives is that God cannot help himself in this matter; it is written deep in the nature of things; it has to be; omnipotence cannot alter it. The lamb slain from the foundation of the world' is no figure of speech but the very heart of all reality. The revealing of the glory of God carries with it a cosmic calvary in which we, his children, are individually called to share. This is as truly the nature of things in their highest computation as it is true of the simplest modes in which beauty and truth express themselves in or experience. It is an unspeakable relief to me to think this. It is the august law which governs life on all planes till it reaches perfect fulfilment and satiety in the vast infinitude of its eternal home." - R. J. CAMPBELL, Serm., Swelling of Jordan.

 

See Also

AFU-RĀ
ARCHETYPAL MAN
BEAST
BLOOD OF LAMB
BOAT
BONDAGE
BOOK
CABIN OF AFU-RĀ
CROSS
CRUCIFIXION
DEAD
DEATH OSIRIS
FLESH
HEART
INCARNATION (Souls)
INCARNATION (Spirit)
JESUS (Lamb)
LINEN GARMENT
MAN (lower)
MAN (Natural)
MARRIAGE OF LAMB
NAME
OSIRIS
RA
REDEMPTION
RESURRECTION
SACRIFICER
SHRINE
SPARKS
TIPHYS
TUAT
VISVAKARMAN
WASHED (blood)