Topic: Lamb of God (John 1:29-37)
Each gospel paints a picture of who Jesus is:
Matthew shows Him as the King of Kings… His royalty.
Mark shows Him as the Servant of the Lord… His ministry.
Luke displays Him as the Son of Man …His humanity.
John shows Him as the Son of God…. His deity.
John used a special term for Jesus, a lamb. Out of all the terms he could have used, he chose the Lamb. Levitus teaches us that the lamb was the only animal used twice a day in the sacrificial offering. This signifies that the lamb has the highest value when it comes to sacrificing for sin. Christ being called that Lamb by John was telling us that His blood is sufficient for our sins every day and for ever and ever.
What does it mean that Jesus is the Lamb who takes away sin? Is this the lamb that was sent out into the desert on the day of atonement, bearing the sins of the nation? Is it perhaps a reference to the lamb caught in a thicket that God gave Abraham to use for his sacrifice in the place of Isaac? Is it a reference to a guilt offering where an animal is killed as an offering for a person’s guilt before God? Or is it perhaps a reference to Isaiah 53 where the suffering servant, who’s wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, is compared to a lamb that’s led to the slaughter? Jesus isn’t just the lamb who takes away the sin of the nation. He’s come to take away the sin of the world. This is an announcement of universal proportions.
John gives testimony to Jesus as the Lamb and is amazed that Jesus requested John to baptize Him. As Jesus was coming up out of the water he saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it remained on him. Up until this point he hadn’t known who it was that he was preparing the way for but now he knows. Now, John knows that Jesu is more than just a cousin, He is the Son of God.
John’s purpose was to prepare the way for one who’s so much greater than he. The comparison is made clear by the two modes of baptism. John baptizes with water which is a baptism of repentance that lasts until it needs to be done again, whereas Jesus baptizes with the Spirit. Jesus’ baptism contains the means by which we can be remade, renewed, enabled to live in accordance with God’s will, changed from the inside, from the heart. And so, John has no hesitation in directing his disciples to Jesus.
John is a great model for anyone who would be a disciple of Jesus. When we surrender to serve God, Jesus is the only one who deserves the glory. We tend to seek our own glory by desiring the applause of others. You may have heard people complain that their work is never recognized. You might even have thought the same thing. Yet look at John the Baptist. Here he is, perhaps the greatest of the prophets. There’s no sense that he wants the glory for himself.
See you Sunday!
Dr. Scott Kallem