Behold the Lamb of God

Read John 1

It’s a new day at the Jordan.  John is back at work.  I imagine that he is waterlogged from the waist down.  The baptism business is good but not the main business that John is about.

He is preparing the way for the one who is so much greater than he is.  He may or may not have seen him growing up.  John jumped in his mother’s womb when Mary, the soon to be mother of Jesus came to visit, but from this part of the text, it sounds like these two did not grow up together.

But on this day, John sees Jesus walking his way.  He has no doubt who is approaching.  He exclaims, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

What powerful words.  This is the one that I was talking about.  This is the one who has come with a divine mission.  This is the one who will do what we couldn’t do from the beginning.  He will take away our sin.

That’s a tall order and there is much more to it than is revealed in this proclamation, but this is a big proclamation.

We don’t get a full sequence of events here.  John knows Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, because the Spirit of the Lord descended upon him. 

How did John know all of this?  John was on a mission of his own, yes, a mission from God.  God told him this is how the Messiah, the Christ, will be revealed to you. 

John was headfirst into baptizing people preparing the way for the Messiah.  He didn’t know how long this assignment would be but he was fully engaged in calling people to repent and be baptized.  Then the very person whom he had been preparing the people for arrived.  From this point forward, John’s ministry decreases—not brought to a halt—and that of Jesus begins and grows.

The Spirit descended upon him and John makes one more pronouncement.

I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.

This could have been considered blasphemy.  Who is this character to call anyone the Son of God?  This guy said he wasn’t the Christ.  He wasn’t Elijah.  He wasn’t even a prophet according to his own words, but now he has proclaimed a man, an ordinary man by all evidence thus far, to be the Son of God.

These two statements are going to be on the final.

Behold the Lamb of God who
 takes away the sin of the world.

I have seen and I testify that
 this is the Son of God.

Today, we consider these statements as basic elements of our faith.  This is an account of Jesus who is the Son of God and who has come to take away the sin of the world.

 

But think of being at the Jordan and hearing these words for the first time.  Many of God’s promises take a long time.  The people knew what the prophets of old had said and how patient God was before what the prophets foretold came to pass. 

So, is this person who is so much greater than John coming today or in 200 years?  Imagine what it would have been like to be among the people at the river at this time. 

Imagine what it would have been like to hear the man you walked a long way to see, hear, and receive his baptism say, “Here he is.  This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  This is the Son of God.”

We were not there.  We did not see, but if we turn ahead in John’s gospel 20 chapters, we find these words.

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

This is the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ.  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world had about 3 years to minister to this lost world before he would die for us. 

Each gospel account varies in many ways and for many reasons, but all of them see the ministry of Jesus begin with John at the Jordan.  Remember these two very foundational statements.

Behold the Lamb of God who
 takes away the sin of the world.

I have seen and I testify that
 this is the Son of God.

Things were about to start happening in the ministry of Jesus whom John had proclaimed Savior and Son of God.

Amen.