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.”