The Lamb of God

When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to be baptized he said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."(Jn. 1:29)  That is quite a statement!  No sports team would name themselves the "Lambs".  Lambs are basically weak.  You can do almost anything you want to with them.  Like a lamb, Jesus was unnoticed(Is. 53:2b), He was available(Matt. 20:28), and He suffered(Is. 53:3,7).

Yet there is power in the term because Jesus is the lamb of God.  As such He is unblemished(I Pet. 1:17,18).  As Son of God, the Word who became flesh, Jesus was sinless(Is. 53:9b.  He was also the perfect sacrifice because "not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, Jesus entered into the Holy Place having obtained eternal salvation."(Heb. 9:12)  That perfect offering tells us that there is nothing left to do for our salvation.  We cannot add to what God has done on our behalf.  All we need do is receive Christ and in doing that we accept what He has already done for us to have eternal life.  So He did that for us.(Is. 53:4-6)

Let all of us who are followers of Jesus Christ remember that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He died for you and me but He also died for everyone.   This lamb is seeking and saving the lost((Lk. 15:11-32, 19:1-10).  And He is sending us out into the world to tell others about this amazing love.  How can we keep it to ourselves?  If you discovered the cure for cancer you would shout it from the housetops.  We actually have the cure for death.  We cannot help but tell the world that Jesus saves!

God's love is amazing!  It is like a mountain lake.  Around the shore line it is shallow enough for even a little child to know, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells  me so".  But it is so deep in the middle that even the giants of theology are in over their heads. All we can say is that God loves us and the cross of Christ, His Son, proves it.

I pray that all of us will look to the once crucified but now risen Lord Jesus and be ready to say to others, "Behold the Lamb of God".