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)