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The Lamb of God
I love the way the Apostle John makes it a point in the entire first chapter of the Gospel of John to identify Jesus to us. John also refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God in the last part of this chapter. As we have seen in the first part of chapter one, Jesus is the Word who created everything. He is also the Light that drives away the darkness of the world.
Thankfully, John does not stop with Jesus being God in the flesh. He makes it clear that Jesus is also the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
The stage is set with the priests and the Levites being sent from Jerusalem to question John the Baptist. Large numbers of people are coming to him to be baptized as an act of repentance, and the Jewish leaders are jealous.
This is John the Baptist’s testimony.
Let’s read John 1:19-28 NKJV
19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
And he answered, “No.”
22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said: “I am
‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’
as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
It is clear who John is not.
John the Baptist makes it very clear that he is not the Christ, but the one foretold over 700 years before by the prophet in Isaiah 40:3 NKJV.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
Seven hundred years before John the Baptist was given life in his mother’s womb, God planned for him to go before Jesus and announce the coming Lamb of God.
Don’t miss the fact that God plans our lives. In John’s case, He even gave the parents his name. He gives us a choice to follow His plan for us or choose our own way, but it is our failure if we go wrong.
It is John the Baptist that first identifies Jesus to his followers and why he is sure that Jesus is the one.
The Lamb of God Revealed
Listen to what the Apostle John tells us about John the Baptist testimony in John 1:29-34 NKJV 29 The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
What is the meaning of the Lamb of God?
The sacrificial lamb has its roots in the beginning in Genesis 4:4, where Abel offered a lamb without blemish to God as an offering. However, as Christians, we see a better picture in Exodus with the Passover Lamb.
Four hundred years of bondage are coming to an end as God performs miracles to set them free. This last miracle changes the minds of the Egyptians and becomes a lasting memorial to God’s deliverance from bondage.
It is still celebrated among the faithful Jewish families. Listen to Moses’ instructions.
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. Exodus 12:21-22 NKJV
The firstborn in every household not marked with the blood of the lamb on the doorpost died. There was great sorrow in all Egypt, and the Israelites were allowed to leave with their belongings. The Egyptians were at this point so glad to see them go that they gave them gifts.
Why is the term Lamb of God meaningful to us today?
Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover with the knowledge that He was to be offered up for our sins as the “Passover Lamb.” He knew and tried to tell the Apostles what was going to happen, but they just could not believe it. He was alive and with them, and they had seen His power over and over. They expected Jesus to rule an earthly kingdom.
Their understand focused on Jesus as the coming King, and when He was nailed to the cross and died, they thought that that was the end. They had been wrong about Him. But they were not wrong in Who He was, only in what kind of kingdom He came to set up.
Listen to what Isaiah tells us about Jesus. He wrote this 700 years before the Apostles witnessed the event that caused them to doubt all they had seen.
Isaiah 53:4-6 NKJV
4Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Jesus had to go to the cross for us.
From the very beginning of Creation, it was clear that God knew that all mankind would surely sin. He wanted to give us a choice, and He did.
However, His plan was never to leave us without hope. It is clear from the earliest prophecies that He had a plan for our salvation.
Jesus was and is that plan; there is no other.
If you have not accepted that plan already, my prayer for you is that you will see how God has provided a way.
He sent The Word, Jesus, into the world to show us the way. He revealed to us the perfect will of God and called us to follow Him.
Jesus is the Light of the World, so we can easily see the difference between Satan’s darkness and God’s way.
He is the Lamb of God Who is offered up for our sins so we can be adopted into the family of God.
John tells us why in chapter three of John.
John 3:16 NKJV says, 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God’s love for us is why Jesus became the Lamb of God to be offered up as the purchase price for each of us. Regardless of how imperfect you are, what you have done in your past or now, God loves you.
God wants you to accept His love and respond by trusting Jesus for your salvation and faithfully following Him every day.
Turn away from the temptations of the world and give yourself fully to the One who loves you. You will be changed into what God planned for you to be when He first placed you in your mother’s womb. That spark of life was you.
John’s message for you is conclusive.
We should be so thankful the Holy Spirit revealed to John Who Jesus was.
In John’s first chapter, he tells us that:
- Jesus is the Word of God who created everything there is on earth and beyond.
- Jesus is the Light of the world, and when we accept Him, there is no darkness.
- Finally, He is the Lamb that was slain for our sins.
John wants us to understand that Jesus is God in the flesh and the only hope for all mankind.
If you have not yet accepted the salvation God offers, don’t wait. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and commit yourself to following Him.