Behold the Lamb
For the Lord’s Day:  the 12^th of December 2004

John 1: 29-31

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’  I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.’”

Introduction:  The first people to sense that Jesus was someone more than just an ordinary person, besides the immediate family: were the Wise Men from the East.  They traveled far and brought gifts worthy of a king:  gold, frankincense and myrrh.   “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” they asked, “For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”  (Matthew 2: 2)

Thirty years later, another leader – the prophet, John the Baptist: recognized him publicly when he announced:  “Behold the Lamb of God.”   The Greek word for lamb here is “amnos”.  Symbolically it means the one who suffers and dies innocently as a sacrifice for others.  To understand this, let us go back in the Old Covenant to Genesis 22: 7-8.  “And Isaac said to his father Abraham, ‘My father!’  And he said, ‘Here am I, my son.’  He said, ‘Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’  Abraham said, ‘God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

And as we remember how the biblical record plays out, this is the absolute truth in this circumstance.  Further on into the biblical record, in Exodus 12, the Lord God gave specific instructions to Moses and Aaron about the regular sacrifice of the Passover lamb.  Paul in a letter to the Corinthians refers back to this ancient institution:  “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”  (1 Corinthians 5: 7b)

Development:  Of course, we know from many texts that the Jews regularly sacrificed lambs in the Temple as well as the annual lambs for the Seder, the Passover meal.  And over the course of time there arose a problem of interpretation.  Calvin points out that “many of the Jews placed their trust in the outward sign.”  That is they put their trust in the sacrificial act.  Just as today, many Christians place their trust in the rite of Baptism or works.  Once that has been performed or the necessary tasks accomplished, nothing more is thought to be necessary.  Yet, as we all know – there is more to Baptism and the faith itself, just as there was much more in the sacrificial premise in the slaughtering of the lambs.  Jesus, as the actual and final Lamb of God, fulfills the promise of Isaiah 53: 4-5 for the suffering servant he so well described:

“Surely he has borne our griefs                              But he was wounded for our transgressions;
and carried our sorrows;                                         he was crushed for our iniquities;
yet we esteemed him stricken,                               upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
smitten by God, and afflicted.                               and with his stripes we are healed.”

It was this chapter which the Apostle Phillip explained to the Ethiopian by the roadside after Jesus had suffered, died and been raise up from the dead.  The Ethiopian found faith in Christ, the Son of God and immediately he asked to be baptized.  The chariot was stopped and Phillip baptized him then and there.  But what is it that brings such an immediate response?  Many people have no problem viewing Jesus as the sacrificial and suffering Lamb, but their understanding stops short at the second part of the Baptist’s announcement:  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

It is the Apostle Peter who explains the working out of the second half of this verse:  “And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”  He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”  (1 Peter 1: 17-21

This is the purpose of the Lamb of God who came into this world with the advance purpose of covering out sin in His blood and thereby accomplishing full atonement, once for all.  Be sure and note the words “for your sake” in verse twenty!  Even though, as Calvin reminds us, “sin remains in us, in the judgment of God it is abolished through the grace of Christ.”  In another paragraph Calvin, just as the Baptist does in his day: points us back to Christ alone, “and informs us that there is no other way in which God is reconciled to us than through his agency, because he alone takes away sin.”

Despite what the worldly religions and critics say about the matter, Christ alone is the only way, because it is only in His sacrifice that our sins are atoned for.  Peter tells us the Jesus “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2: 24) and Isaiah says that “upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.”  (Isaiah 53: 5)

The worldly look in vain everywhere and anywhere else, and it is sad that so many are helplessly deluded, believing in gifts of salvation simply because death has overtaken them.  Well did the early Christmas traditions allow for presents of coal to remind all and sundry exactly what their behavior merited them when Christ was once the subject of Advent.  For several years, I actually gave away lumps of coal at school when the students demanded presents.  Then when that was no longer kosher, I simply put up a sign on the bulletin board that the student presents could not be shipped because “The Sunnyvale Coal Company” had gone out of business!  I would guess that even that subtle reminder of truth would not pass muster in today’s secular climate!

But, what a blessing we must realize from the birth of the Lamb of God.  And how appropriate that Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger.  Where else would you expect a lamb to be born?  Thirty years later, John the Baptist tells the world exactly who He is and advised those who had ears to hear, just why He had come.

1.  Let us move on to verse thirty where the Baptist tells us three things.  First, John the Baptist came before Jesus in order of time to fulfill the testimony of Malachi:  “Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.  And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3: 1)

2.  Second, John testifies to the greater glory of the Son in respect to his own person.  After all, John the Baptist was only the messenger, the herald – sent to announce the King of Kings.  At fancy balls and receptions, it was an old habit, to have a butler or servant announce the person and titles of all the guests as they arrived.  And to this prevalent courtesy, there was a very rigid pecking order that established how early people should arrive to receive the “better” nobility properly.  John is the assigned steward here to announce at the proper age: the Anointed Messiah, whether the world would receive Him or not.

3.  Third, the Baptist recognizes not only the priority of the Son, but also tells us of the eternal nature of Jesus.  In all humility, John announces eternity of the Son.  Calvin notes:  “The honor, therefore, which the Father bestowed upon him was not accidental, but was due to his eternal majesty.”  Tasker illuminates the necessary humility of the Baptist:  Christ “appeared in human history later than John, but He took preference over him, for He was already in existence when John was born; and so exalted was His status that John felt himself unworthy to render Him even such menial service as unfastening the strap of His sandals.”  Ah, the world must always be offended at receiving Christ at King, indeed they have banned even the public celebration of His princely birth as the heir of our Father in heaven.

Application:  In our last verse for today, John again makes three short statements. First, he admits that He himself: “did not know him”   By these words, he means to demonstrate the fact that he did not make this up, but that he was inspired by the God and Father of Israel concerning the long expected Messiah.

Second, he announces the reason for ministry:” for this purpose I came baptizing with water,   In preparation for the coming of Christ, John baptized the people of God with water.  In this, like every minister of the Gospel, baptism is done as an outward sign of what the Lord God must accomplish by the Spirit alone.  John’s baptism thus anticipated the greater working of the Son, who gives the Holy Spirit to complete the work of salvation in the hearts of men and women.

And finally, John argues the final purpose for his own work: “that [Jesus] might be revealed to Israel.’”  In this, too – John is working even as we work today, in order that others may come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  This is ever and always the calling and purpose of Christ’s ministers and even the whole of the church.  A seminary friend of mine, after taking his first call had to explain to his new congregation, that it was the sheep who bore the lambs and it was his purpose as a steward of Christ to work with the flock day by day and instruct them in the things of the Lord.  Of course, we know better that it is the Lord God who works through the hearts of men to bring about the new birth.  We as Chistians are may participate in that process as mid-wives, much like the shepherds who raise and manage sheep.

Time was, when I had my own flock of sheep, when the baby lambs were due, I would have to hang around the barn at all hours of the night to assist if necessary.  That meant catching an hour and a half of sleep here and there and running out to the barn to check on any progress. Ewes, who were obviously in labor must be separated from the rest of the flock, and so small portable stalls were put together.   If the moment of birth seemed near, there were times when I even fell asleep in the straw outside of the stalls.  As we remember in this season of the year, other shepherds too, in Israel were out in the hills with their lambs and sheep as well.  “Behold, the Lamb of God,” this is the watchword of the historic and traditional Advent Season.  But, let us all be certain to go on and finish the Baptist’s credo:  “Who takes away the sin of the world.”  Amen.

Rushsylvania United Presbyterian Church (USA) 23 Dec 73 – Logan County Mission (PCA) 22 Dec 84
Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA) 18 Dec 88
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PREACHING RESOURCES 

Calvin, John:  Commentary on the Gospel of John.
Jeremias, Joachim.  Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.
Keller, Werner.  The Bible As History.
Napier, B.D.  The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible.
Tasker, R.V.G.  Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: The Gospel According to St John.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.

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