Behold the Lamb of God
John 1:29-34
29 The next day he 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 ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Friends, our Gospel reading for today comes from John’s glorious 1st chapter of his gospel account. And John the Apostle (young disciple of Jesus) is writing for us his recollection of John the Baptist’s announcement of Jesus as the “Lamb of God.”
Lamb of God. Lamb of God—who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the Lamb of God. Indeed, how fitting it is to say on the second day of Lent: Jesus is the Lamb of God. John the Baptist understood this to mean that Jesus would be sacrificed for the sins of the world. He understood this truth even before Jesus’ disciples did. Of course, he was a prophet of Israel, so yeah, he understood more than James and John, Peter and Andrew, Bartholomew and Thomas,—all of them. But let’s make this more personal, shall we? Jesus would be sacrificed for your sins. He would be sacrificed for my sins. We are all sinners. I guess sometimes, we need to be reminded of that. We are sinners. We have sinned against our Holy Creator, in thought, word, and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
Friend, grasp that thought and reflect on it for a moment. None of us are without sin. Oh, sure, the secular world would teach us differently. “You’re a good person.” Surely, some may be considered good in the eyes of the world. “So long as you’ve done more good things than bad things, you are okay.” That’s what the world wants us to think. That’s what the enemy wants us to think. Maybe we even think that. But truthfully, we are not righteous without Him. Without him our righteousness is as Paul says, “as filthy rags.” If I may be honest, I don’t like to think of “my righteousness” as “filthy rags.”
Of course, as I even think more on that, maybe the secular world has changed its opinion of who is good and who is not. I suppose if you fit neatly within a specific category of the “good” by which woke-ism in our culture is defining it today, then you’re “good.” If you don’t, well, then your ousted, canceled, despised, rejected and hated among men. Nevertheless, the all-knowing wise God who knows us better than we know ourselves has made a declaration about humanity that remains true based on the evidence of how we mess things up constantly—we are in dire need of a Savior—the Lamb of God, Jesus. This Lamb of God entered into our dysfunction, our brokenness and provided a way for ALL of us to be rescued from ourselves—His death and resurrection.
And this good news speaks a better word about who we are when we trust in this Lamb of God. We who trust in Him have this confidence that “that he who began a good work in you (that’s all of us who follow Him) will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Friends, let Jesus, the Lamb of God begin that good work in you in this season of Lent and as we journey to the Cross of Christ, let’s remember that we have no lack of anything in Him, the Son of God. We have no want. He is truly our everything. He is our salvation.
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
I am praying for all of you. Please pray for me.
Pax Christ,
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