The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ … I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
John 1:29, 30, 34
A foreshadowing … Genesis 3:21 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”
An experience … Exodus 12:1-13 “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “…Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. … The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats…all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses …The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.
A prophecy … Isaiah 53:7 “he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
An announcement … John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
An explanation … 1 Corinthians 5:7b “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
A celebration … Revelation 5:12 “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
A future hope … Revelation 21:22-25 “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:3-4
Jesus as the Lamb of God is central to salvation. In the Old Testament system of sacrifices, the lamb was slain for atonement. The lamb was pure, without defect, without blemish. And its blood provided a temporary covering for sin. Because it was temporary, the sacrifice had to be repeated over and over. Without this sacrifice, the people could not be in the presence of a holy God.
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? … And by [God’s] will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. … For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Hebrews 10:1-14
Because Jesus is the LAMB of God,
He takes away my sin, your sin, as we believe in Him!
My faith looks up to thee,
thou Lamb of Calvary,
Savior divine:
now hear me while I pray,
take all my guilt away,
O let me from this day
be wholly thine.May thy rich grace impart
strength to my fainting heart,
my zeal inspire;
as thou hast died for me,
O may my love to thee
pure, warm, and changeless be,
a living fire.While life’s dark maze I tread,
and griefs around me spread,
be thou my guide;
bid darkness turn to day,
wipe sorrow’s tears away,
nor let me ever stray
from thee aside.When ends life’s transient dream,
Ray Palmer, 1830
when death’s cold, sullen stream
shall o’er me roll,
blest Savior, then, in love,
fear and distrust remove;
O bear me safe above,
a ransomed soul.
As you pray today, thank God for the sacrifice of His son – that Jesus is the Lamb of God!
