The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
Then I saw a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
Earlier text
Exodus 12:3BSB
Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household.
At the center of heaven's throne John sees "a Lamb who appeared to have been slain" (Rev 5:6), the climactic identification of Christ with the Passover lamb that every Israelite household "must select... one per household" (Exod 12:3). The slain-yet-standing Lamb is the antitype of the Passover victim whose blood on the doorposts shielded Israel from the destroyer and inaugurated their redemption from Egypt. This is genuine typology with all five marks: the historical Passover (Exod 12), the analogical correspondence of an innocent lamb slain for the people, the escalation from a yearly animal sacrifice to the once-for-all death of the Lamb of God, the prospective character of the ordinance ("Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed," 1 Cor 5:7), and the NT's own retrospective reading. The escalation is total — the Lamb is not consumed and forgotten but stands alive at the throne with seven horns (omnipotence) and seven eyes (the fullness of the Spirit), reigning by virtue of His sacrifice. The telos is worship of the Lamb whose blood "purchased for God those from every tribe" (Rev 5:9): Christ crucified is revealed as the only one worthy to open the scroll of history, and the redeemed find their deliverance and delight in Him.