THE LAMB OF GOD THAT TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD

Jesus is “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” just as John the Baptist proclaimed Him to be. (John 1:29) The One who sent John told him how he would know Him and how He was to be introduced. So when Jesus appeared on the banks of the Jordon John easily recognized Him and introduced Him just as he had been told. Having seen Jesus, we can now say that “Jesus is” exactly what “John said.” Jesus’ life and John’s proclamation are congruent. The proclamation and the person are the same.

Jesus was sent into the world by His Father to demonstrate the Father’s great love for the world and to reconcile that world unto Him. No one had ever seen God’s love personified before Jesus. From the day sin alienated God’s children from Him He had foreordained that they would be reconciled. Like a shepherd that has lost a sheep, a woman that has lost a coin, or a father who has lost a wayward son, God aggressively seeks out the lost and readily welcomes back the lost who on their initiative return. When the lost are found God and all the host of heaven break out with extreme joy and extravagant celebration. (Luke 15)

In Christ Jesus, God Himself proactively came into the world to redeem and take away the sin of the world. “God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” (II Corinthians 5:19) “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in (Christ Jesus), and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20) “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (John 3:17) “He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one Head, even Christ.” (Ephesians 1:9-10)

God accomplished this by offering His Son, Jesus, as “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (I John 2:2) “For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son (as the atoning sacrifice) that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) So now we have the joy of proclaiming the good news to the world: “if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13) Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

These scriptures tell the whole story. They, and many more like them, make a radical proclamation about God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and His love for the whole world. While many had spoken and written of God’s unfailing love before, never had anyone, in their fondest dreams; or some might say, in their worst nightmare, envisioned anything like this. In fact it was so radical and free, this grace of God in Christ Jesus, it shocked people – still does. “Neither do I condemn you” is not the expected response from God to someone caught breaking one of His own Ten Commandments. Yet that is exactly what Jesus, God incarnate, did. (John 8:3-11) Imagine that.

Jesus told the parable of The Prodigal Son, and his elder brother, because He knew how difficult some would find it to accept the fact that there might be such easily accessible grace for sinners. Jesus’ story suggests that the elder brother found it easier to fantasize about his younger brother’s sexual misbehavior while he was lost than to ever imagine the wonderful welcome he would receive from his father upon his return. O, but what a great story of the father’s joy over his son who “was dead and is alive again, was lost but is found,” and the celebration that began. No greater news has ever been published in our world. “It’s the good news that’s just too good to be true, but it is.” And John’s introduction set the scene for it all as he announced, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”

FOLLOW THE LAMB

Jesus approached John the Baptist who was baptizing in the Jordan. When John looked up and saw Jesus approaching he recognized Him. John would later explain how: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’” (John 1:32-34)

When John recognized Jesus as the One he immediately shouted his introduction that will echo down through time and eternity, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) When time shall be no more and we gather around His throne we shall join “the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand (singing): ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain.’” (Revelation 5:11-12)

When those present to John’s introduction looked up to see the Lamb they saw Jesus. In every generation since, to this very day, when we hear John’s introduction and look up from whatever has our attention, we see Jesus, the Lamb of God. But what we see is far more than we could possibly know for Jesus exceeds our comprehension and imagination. However, Jesus bids us follow Him without requiring that we first fully comprehend Him. He simply invites us to follow Him and learn of Him. Jesus’ says, “take my yoke upon you and learn from me…” (Matthew 11:29) This awesome invitation is the subject of a future lesson, but for now, let’s learn from Him about the Lamb of God.

This image of Jesus, as Lamb of God, provides us a profound insight into the very nature of God the Father Himself. As has been pointed out earlier, Jesus is the complete fullness of God made visible and available as a Man who lived among us and became a part of human history. Therefore, as we seek to know God, to worship Him and have a relationship with Him, we must begin with Jesus, God’s complete revelation of Himself. From the very beginning God has shown Himself present in Israel's system of sacrifices, but it has now come into clearer focus in Jesus.

Every sacrificial lamb offered on the myriad altars of Israel’s salvation history pointed beyond itself to Something or Someone who would be revealed, when the time had fully come. Each time a lamb, that knew no sin, shed its blood for someone else who had sinned, the shadow of the cross appeared. Every sacrifice was “…a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”(Colossians 2:17)

Before Jesus we had only words about, and symbols that represented the Holy. Now, in Jesus, we have the Holy personified; God’s own Word lived out before our eyes – the Word become Flesh. Jesus fulfilled (filled full) all the faith, prophesy, expectations, history, religious symbols, and traditions of God’s people. Whether it was the paschal lambs whose blood was placed on the sides and top of their doorposts when God passed through Egypt (Exodus 121:1-15), or the two lambs sacrificed on the altar each day (Exodus 29:38), these lambs were symbols or shadows, provided by man, of the True Lamb provided by God. Abraham’s answer to his son Isaac’s question about the lamb pointed to the reality; “God himself will provide the Lamb…” (Genesis 22:8) And He did.

What image of our God would be most impressive in these times of terrorism and war, and noises about wiping nations off the map and blowing up the world to usher in the end time? How many votes would the image of a Lamb being led to the slaughter get? In a world like ours, not very many. Yet into that harsh first century world of Roman occupation and domination, of insurgency and insurrection, God came as a baby in a mother’s arms and was announced by John using the Isaiah image of the “Lamb of God.” (Isaiah 53:7) Those then and now who look for a powerful, militant Messiah reject Him. The question of our times is who still follows the victorious Lamb? (Revelations 17:14)

GREATER THAN JOHN THE BAPTIST

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…” After paying this magnificent tribute to the great faithfulness of His forerunner, John the Baptist, Jesus continues, “Yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:11)

How is this? “No one greater than John the Baptist,” and then immediately followed by, “the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater.” Is this some kind of riddle or double-speak Jesus is engaging in?

This verse, as it reads in The Message, gives us a hint of what Jesus is saying. “No one in history surpasses John the Baptizer; but in the kingdom he prepared you for, the lowliest person is ahead of him.”

When Jesus speaks of “those born of women,” He is speaking of every single person who has ever lived in all of human history. When He speaks of those in the kingdom of heaven, from the least to the greatest, He is speaking of all who have been born into the realm of the reign of Christ. Jesus is speaking of those “who received Him…who believed in His name…(and to whom) He gave the right to become children of God – born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12)

As all human beings, John the Baptist lived his life as part of human history. He also was born into the faith and traditions of the Children of Israel. He additionally had a special place within that faith and tradition. The prophets of Israel, both Isaiah (40:3) and Malachi (3:1), foretold of his appearing and his special role, assigned to Him by God, to be the messenger who would go before and make straight the way of the Anointed One. In this dimension, human history, Jesus said that there was no one greater than John the Baptist.

In the dimension of the Kingdom of God, however, things are different. There, even the lowliest of us who are the blessed recipients of God’s grace is greater. Not because we are greater, but because what we bear witness to is greater. In the Kingdom of God, we are recipients of and bear witness to God’s great salvation. We are the ones whose sins have been forgiven by Christ’s death upon the cross. We are those who are the heirs of eternal life secured by Christ Jesus’ and witnesses to His victorious resurrection. Though the prophets rejoiced to see the day of Christ’s appearing at a distance, they never experienced the wonder of Him on that day. Though John the Baptist was present at Jesus’ advent, recognized and announced Him, and even baptized Him, he did not witness the full power Christ in its completion at His death and resurrection. Only those who have been washed in His blood can shout with conviction, “worthy is the Lamb.”

Adam Clark says a similar point is made by a saying among the Jews: “Even the servant maid that passed through the Red Sea saw what neither Ezekiel, nor any other of the prophets had seen.”

Hebrews 11:13 says, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.”

O how blessed we are to live in this time of grace and to be a part of that great cloud of witnesses who know and proclaim Christ’s victory over sin and death He won for us at Calvary. If this is your witness, you too are greater than John the Baptist.