Looking at the Lamb

John 1:29-34

 

INTRO: For forty days and forty nights, the Lord Jesus Christ fasted and prayed in the desert.  The Word of God tells us that at the end of those forty days, Jesus was hungry.  The Bible also tells us that at the end of the forty years, “the tempter came to him...”  The devil tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread, to jump from the pinnacle of the temple.  The Devil also took Jesus up on a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdom of the world and the greatness of them.  “And saith unto Him [Jesus], All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”  Jesus answered every temptation by the Word of God and was victorious over the tempter (Mt 4:1-11). 

The Gospel hymn, “Tell Me the Story of Jesus,” says:

Fasting alone in the desert,

Tell of the days that are past,

How for our sins He was tempted,

Yet was triumphant at last.

It is after our Lord’s victory over Satan in the wilderness, that He walks to where John was baptizing.

 

I.        Vs 29, “BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD.”

A.       “The next day.”  This is the day after John had been interrogated by the committee of Pharisees from Jerusalem.

B.       “John seeth Jesus coming unto him.”

1. After Jesus fasted and prayed in the desert forty days, John sees Jesus approaching.

2. After Jesus defeated the Devil by the Word of God, John sees Jesus approaching.

C.      Upon seeing Jesus approach, John cries out: “Behold the Lamb of God.”

1. As if walking right off the pages of the Old Testament, Jesus walked toward John the Baptist.  All the sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God; this is the one that John now heralds.

2. The Old Testament is a search for the Lamb.

a. In Gen 4:4, we have the Lamb symbolized as Abel brought “the firstlings of his flock.”

b. In Genesis 22:8, Abraham said to Isaac: “God will provide Himself a Lamb.”  This is the Lamb predicted.

c. Exodus 12 tells us about the Lamb slain and the blood applied on the doorpost and lintel.  Exodus 12:23 says, “For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two sideposts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.”  God’s eye was on the blood, not on the house.

Christ our Redeemer died on the cross,

Died for the sinner, paid all his due;

All who receive him need never fear,

Yes, He will pass, will pass over you.

When I see the blood,

When I see the blood, When I see the blood,

I will pass, I will pass over you.

d. Isaiah 53:7 tells us of the Lamb personified, the fact that the Lamb would be a man.  “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.”

e. In our present passage, John 1:29, we have the Lamb identified.  John was saying this is the Messiah.  This is the one you’ve been looking for.

f. In Rev 5:12, we hear the voice of many angels: “Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”  He is worthy!

3. Gaebelein says: “Every Jew was familiar with the meaning of the Lamb for it was used as the daily sacrifice, morning and evening.  Therefore sacrifice cannot be separated form the lamb; the two words belong together” (32).

a. The Lord Jesus Christ came to be our sacrifice; He came to die for sinners.

b. Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God (I Pt 1:19), the only sacrifice for our sins.

c. The Lord Jesus died for us because “without shedding of blood is no remission.”

d. Jesus is “the Lamb”– the only Lamb, not one of many.  “Many lambs were sacrificed in Old Testament times.  All the shadows disappeared, when Christ, as the substance came” (Exell 50).  “Behold the Lamb of God!”

4. Going back to Exodus 12, we gain divine instruction concerning God’s work of grace.

a. Vs 3, “A lamb”– the unsaved, unregenerate see Christ as nothing more than “a lamb.”

b. Vs 4, “The lamb”– by the work of grace, by regeneration, those who were once dead are now able to see Christ as the only hope of salvation.  He became “the lamb.”

c. Vs 5, “Your lamb”– by God’s grace, we receive Christ and He becomes our lamb, our personal Savior.  All the elect can say with Paul concerning Christ, He is the one “who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20).

D.      “Which taketh away the sin of the world.”

1. Jesus Christ came to save sinners.

a. He did not come to earth as a conqueror.

b. He did not come to earth as a philosopher.

c. He did not come to earth to be a moral teacher.

d. Jesus came to earth to save sinners; He came to be our Savior.

e. “He came to do that which man could never do for himself– to do that which money and learning education can never obtain,– to do that which is essential to man’s real happiness: he came to ‘take away the sin’” (Ryle 57).

f. Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself.  He allowed our sins to be laid upon Himself (I Pt 2:24).  When you trust Christ, your sins are taken away.  “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”

2. Jesus “taketh away the sin of the world.”

a. Not for the Jews only, but for the Gentiles as well.

b. His blood is sufficient to save all the world, but efficient only for those who believe.

 

II.       VSS 30-31, THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF CHRIST DECLARED