The Lamb of God

John 1:29 - "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”"

There are certain Biblical phrases and passages of Scripture that we can become so familiar with that we don't often stop to consider the depth of truth which it contains, and John 1:29 is one such passage. Here we find John the baptist pointing to the Lord Jesus and declaring "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." We casually read over this because we're used to the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God, but imagine how odd this must have sounded to those who heard John make this declaration. What would you think if one of your friends pointed to a stranger walking down the road and said, "Look, the Lamb of God." This is really a strange name. But it gets us to start thinking, what has this man done to earn such a title? If we were pointed to a man and told "Look, the tortoise of Toledo." We could probably deduce that this person merited such a name by being notoriously slow. This is a silly example, but I think you get the idea.
During WWII there was a soldier by the name of Rommel who earned himself the name "the Desert Fox." And without knowing anything about this man we can surmise that he must have been consistently sly and crafty in his wilderness warfare. Names like this carry with them a great deal of information. So in John 1:29 why would John call the Lord Jesus "The Lamb of God"?

For any Jewish person or anyone familiar with their Bible, this title of the Lord Jesus takes us back to the Old Testament. The reference to the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God points us all the way back to the beginning. In Genesis chapter 3, right after the fall of mankind, we read that the Lord God made garments of skin for the man and his wife to clothe them. These garments of skin that God made for Adam and Eve were the skins of an animal, probably a lamb. An animal had to be sacrificed, had to die, in order that the result of mans sin might be covered. And from this point on the Lord begins to teach us the necessity of having a sacrifice for our sins. This must have been something that God taught Adam and Eve and that they passed down to their children, and so on for generations. Because even as early as the fourth chapter of Genesis we see mankind offering a sacrifice for his sins. In Genesis 4:4 we read this - "Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering." Abel offered to God a lamb, an excellent sacrifice, for his own personal sin. This is a lamb for a person.
By the way, why did animals have to be sacrificed in the Old Testament? These were sacrifices for sin. According to Gods perfect standard death is the penalty for sin. God is completely Holy and cannot tolerate even the smallest sin, so He declares that the soul that sins must die. We read in the New Testament that the wages of sin is death. And not just physical death but spiritual death, a separation from God for eternity. See, God made us in order that we might have a relationship with Him, but we cannot come near to God if we are sinners. Once Adam sinned the entire human race was plunged into sin. We are born sinners. So this presents us with a problem, we've been created to have a relationship with God but we can't because we are sinners. So what did God do? He provided a way for sinners to be able to come to Him and have a relationship with Him. Cain and Abel were sinners but early on God began to reveal His plan to rescue us from our sin and draw us back to Himself. And all the way back at the beginning He begins to teach us the idea about a substitutionary sacrifice. What does that mean? The wages of sin is death, right? So God made it possible for something else to die in our place. Abel brought a lamb to God as a sacrifice and the life of that lamb paid the price for Abel's sin, enabling him to have a relationship with God.

As we read on through the Bible we come to Exodus chapter 12, and here we read once again of the sacrificial lamb, only this time it's not for the individual, it's for a household. In Exodus chapter twelve the Lord had already done many signs and wonders through Moses in the land of Egypt, and He was preparing His people for the final judgment that would take place against the nation of Egypt in order that they would let His people go. This is what we read in Exodus 12 verse 3 and also verses 12-13 - "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household... For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt." The shed blood of the lamb would cover anyone in the household. Each family escaped the judgment of God by the blood of the lamb. This event, as you know, is called the Passover and it's something that the Lord didn't want His people to forget. He wanted them to remember how they had been covered by the blood of a sacrificed lamb. So we have a lamb for a household.

So we saw the lamb for the individual in Genesis 4, we see the lamb for the family in Exodus 12, we come to Leviticus 16 and we see a sacrifice for a nation. In Leviticus chapter 16 Israel is instructed concerning the day of atonement, a special day in which the entire nation would come together and their sins would be atoned for by one sacrifice. Leviticus 16:17 says concerning the high priest - "When he goes in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household and for all the assembly of Israel." This passage is talking about a special day that Israel would celebrate once a year, a day called the day of atonement. And this sacrifice for sins was offered for the entire nation.  In this verse we actually see all three, a sacrifice for an individual, a family and a nation.

So we see Gods plan being revealed to a greater extent as we go through the Word of God and finally we come to John 1:29 and we read - "The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”"

First for the individual, then for the family, then for the nation, and now the Sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the whole world, Jesus Christ. He is the one to whom all the Old Testament sacrifices were pointing. In the Old Testament when a person sinned they had to bring a Lamb to the tabernacle in order to have it sacrificed for their sin, but they couldn't bring just any lamb from the flock, they had to bring one that met very specific requirements depending on the type of sacrifice. It had to be a male, it had to be a certain age, it had to be free from any spots or blemishes, it had to be in perfect health, and so on. And the Lord Jesus met everyone one of the requirements. He is the one to whom all these Old Testament sacrifices point. His is the fulfillment, and He is the only sacrifice that can truly take away sin. And that's exactly what He came to do. Hebrews 9:26 says that Christ was manifested in order to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

One of the requirements of an animal sacrifice in the Old Testament was that it had to be without blemish and without spot. You couldn't bring a sacrifice that had any defect, it had to be, for all intents and purposes, perfect. In 1 Peter 1:18-19 we read - "knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." Here we're told that our redemption was bought with the blood of Christ, and Christ was the Lamb of God without blemish and without spot. Whereas the Old Testament sacrifices had to meet this requirement outwardly, the Lord Jesus met this requirement inwardly, meaning that there was no blemish on His nature and character. He is absolutely perfect. He doesn't have the blemish of sin. A blemish is an acquired mark, that is, something that is inflicted on you from the outside. A spot is an inherited mark, that is, a defect that you are born with. The Lord Jesus had neither. He was never caused to sin by His environment, He was never tricked into sinning, neither did He inherit a sin nature. This is why the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus is so important. He didn't inherit Adams sin nature, so He is truly the Lamb of God without blemish and without spot.

In Numbers chapter 28 we read of a continual burnt offering, two lambs were to be sacrificed every day, one in the morning and one in the evening. The Old Testament sacrifices had to be offered perpetually. These sacrifices could temporarily atone for sin but they were unable to completely take away sin. We read in Hebrews 10:1-4, 11 - For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins." See, these sacrifices in the Old Testament were never permanent. If someone sinned they had to come and offer a sacrifice for their sins. If they sinned again they would have to offer another one. And the cycle would keep on going. The priests were constantly offering sacrifices for sin, as well as burnt offerings to God, But the book of Hebrews deals with the superiority of Christs sacrifice of Himself. We read in Hebrews 9:11-12 - "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." And in verses 23-28 we read - "Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him."

He is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Isaiah 53:6-7 says - "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth." He is the perfect sacrificial Lamb. Though we were going astray like sheep, lost in our trespasses and sins, He came as the Lamb of God and was led to the slaughter in our place, in order to bear away our sins and accomplish our redemption. We have been reconciled to God through the shed blood of Christ, our sacrificial Lamb.

I mentioned earlier the Day of Atonement talked about in Leviticus 16. On the Day of Atonement there was a sacrifice that involved two animals, two goats. We read in Leviticus 16:7-10 - "He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and make it a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat." Now here we have an interesting picture. The Lord is instructing His people concerning a sacrifice that had to take place once a year. They would take the first goat and kill it and sprinkle it's blood for cleansing. Then they would take the live goat and the high priest would confess the sins of the congregation on the head of the live goat and someone would take it off and let it go in the wilderness. Now, what's this all about? Why two animals, why not just one? Like I said, all of the Old Testament sacrifices point to and picture the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice of Himself. Here in Leviticus 16 these two animals picture for us the Lord Jesus' death and resurrection. The Lord Jesus had to die in order that we might be forgiven of our sins through His blood and we might be able to draw near to God. But Jesus didn't stay dead, He rose from the dead, and so that live goat is a picture that, yes, Jesus died but He rose again and because He lives the problem of sin has been taken care of once for all. If Jesus did not rise from the dead His sacrifice would not have been of any more value than the sacrifice of those animals. If Christ has not risen then our faith is vain and we are still in our sins. But the fact is that Jesus did rise from the dead and just as that live goat carried away the sin of the people the Lord Jesus has carried away our sin. Psalm 103:12 - "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us."

John 1:29 - "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”"