Beautiful Lamb – Gary Miller

 

Gary Miller really didn’t need to expound on why he chose to write some words about a rarely used name for the God-Son. At least, this name had been unusual – in fact, never-before used -- when one guy named John called Him the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36), and then another John called out this Lamb in a great vision over 25 times (see Revelation, chapters 5 through 21). Could that have persuaded Gary that a “Beautiful Lamb” was worthy of a song in 1996? He must have also been very familiar with any number of pieces of artwork (like this Agnus Dei painting, shown here, by 17^th Century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran) that spoke in brushstrokes of this God sent to earth as a lamb-like sacrifice. Like a masterpiece artist, God presented His own Son in such a provocative way that His life would motivate the human race, and draw our attention not only as an innocent offering, but more importantly as the Almighty Creator who was willing to rescue those He made. He decided, all on His own, to transform my filth with His purity.

 

Gary Miller had been intimately involved with music for many years by the time he wrote ‘Beautiful Lamb’, as a veteran 45-year-old acapella singer/songwriter/producer/recording engineer. And though his precise circumstance and motivation for the song in 1996 are not common knowledge, Gary’s Christian life certainly was not a mystery. One might even say his life was in the Acapella Company and especially one of its offshoots, Vocal Union, wherein his testimony lives on through so many songs which his fingers and his heart touched. That he died at age 60 (on March 12, 2011) while in the midst of this active music career probably made his departure so affecting for those who knew him best and worked so closely with him. (See the link to the video tribute to him below.) Looking at the words of the song he wrote, and a description of his life by family and friends, one could really say that this fellow tried, as well as any of us, to mirror the God he served in his life. ‘Sweet and gentle…’ is how one of his closest friends (Keith Lancaster) eulogized him, not unlike how Gary saw the Lamb in the lyrics he wrote 15 years before his premature death. ‘Gentle and merciful’, and ‘guiltless and pure’ (v.1) are the qualities of Jesus that stood out in Gary’s poetry, characteristics that played out in this Lamb’s actions – in ‘redeem(ing) us with His blood’, by ‘suffering great pain’ through His ‘wounds’ (v.2); all to ‘take our sins away’ (v.3). This gentle and sweet musician was a kindred spirit with the Savior whose personality so resonated with his own. One can imagine that Gary’s words must have flowed effortlessly, huh?

 

Jesus’ contemporaries seemed a bit skeptical the first couple of times that John the Baptist told others that this carpenter’s son named Jesus was the Lamb of God. In fact, only one of the four biblical biographers of Jesus (John) highlighted this naming episode for posterity, while the other three gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) seem to have forgotten it. Maybe they just didn’t yet get it, that a lamb could be so robust, so mighty to take away all sin. Lambs that you and I see are cuddly and cute, and one might even say attractive, but still fragile and weak. This Lamb of God is completely different, making beauty not just something soft and harmless. This beauty has incredible power. Gary Miller apparently got it, for he says in his song’s last line, after lauding Him as beautiful, the following two words -- ‘But Jesus…’. You may look upon Jesus and admire any number of his visible qualities, but His beauty goes deeper than that. This beauty saves, a beauty that Gary is fully understanding today.   

 

See  a 21-minute tribute to the composer at this link, including text in the first 20 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf7I8RSo0jQ       

 

Another brief obituary of the author-composer is here: https://christianchronicle.org/a-cappella-recording-artist-gary-miller-dies-at-60/

 

Read here some about the Acapella group and Gary’s membership in it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acappella_(group)

 

Read some about Gary Miller here also: https://www.acappella.org/about-the-artists/vocal-union/

 

See information about the painting here: File:Francisco de Zurbarán 006.jpg - Wikimedia Commons …The author died in 1664, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.