19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)
25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptising, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 John answered them, “I baptise with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptising.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because He was before me.’
31 I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptising with water, that He might be revealed to Israel.”
32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him.
33 I myself did not know him, but He who sent me to baptise with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptises with the Holy Spirit.’
34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
The gospel of John differs from the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the so-called ‘Synoptic Gospels’ in many ways.
It was written later, in about AD 85, and is more an interpretation of Jesus Christ and His great spiritual truths. So John’s Gospel is not merely historical but also interpretive.
John proclaims Jesus from the opening verse as the divine Messiah. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
In John there is no mention of Jesus’ birth, His baptism, temptation, the transfiguration, or the last supper. The agony of Gethsemane is not described. Each miracle which John recounts for us is given for a definite purpose. They are key signs which reveal the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity.
While John omits some things we find in Matthew, Mark and Luke, he does introduce us to some things which are not in the Synoptics.
The miracles at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, His conversation with Nicodemus, which includes probably the best known verse in the Bible in chapter 3 verse 16, His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar, the paralytic at Bethesda, the raising of Lazarus, and the washing of the disciples’ feet are all found in John only. Biblical scholars have assumed that John knew what the Synoptic Gospels contained, and he understood his task to be one of drawing attention to the deep spiritual truth of who Jesus is, and why He came.
The humanity of Jesus is emphasised as well as His divinity. In John, Jesus is tired and sits down at the well at Sychar, He becomes hungry, and at one time He even weeps at the tomb of a friend.
John was an eyewitness of the events recorded in the book, and he was very clear as to the purpose of writing his Gospel: To tell about Christ so that people might have everlasting life.
In fact, at the end of chapter 20, John spells out his reasons for writing what we have come to know as the Gospel of John: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:30-31)
He says that the “Word,” which is Christ, was the very beginning. He was the source of life and of all things. He was the Light of mankind whom no darkness could overcome.
John the Baptist came as a witness to this Light. John testified that Jesus gives us all the grace we need.
The ministry of John the Baptist is given prominence in the first chapter. John the Baptist is not the apostle John who wrote this Gospel, so we mustn’t confuse the two. People flocked to hear John the Baptist, and many were puzzled as to who this fiery preacher was. They asked him if he was Elijah or a prophet. He told them that he was merely the voice that was sent to announce the coming of the Messiah.
And when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” This picture of the Lamb of God is our focus today. It comes from Isaiah and is also found in Revelation.
We actually first read about this concept of the Lamb of God in Genesis 22, long before the first Passover meal in Exodus 12. God instructed Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, a clear prophecy of what was to come at Calvary. We know the story very well. Abraham and his son climb the mountain, and Isaac turns to his father to ask where the sacrificial animal is.
Abraham then gives the answer which was ultimately fulfilled many years later at Calvary: “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” (Genesis 22:8)
This is the first prophecy of Jesus as the promised Lamb of God.
One characteristic associated with the lamb in the Old Testament sacrifices was its innocence. We speak of the innocence of little children not in the sense that they are free from sin, but in that they don’t fully understand sin or its consequences. The problem for many adults though, is that they spend the rest of their lives understanding neither sin or its consequences.
Jesus, however, never lost His innocence. He walked among the sins and temptations of life but He remained pure and undefiled by human sin.
Most people are quite comfortable with the idea that Jesus came as a little meek and mild baby. Cute manger scenes at Christmas time are generally accepted, as they don’t threaten anyone. There are a few radical exceptions to the rule, but most who are opposed to the idea that God is real and that He came in human flesh will tolerate a manger scene with a plastic doll in a shopping centre for a couple of weeks each year. If we can hide God under the tinsel and pretty lights, He is no threat to us.
But read John’s Gospel carefully, and you will see that he doesn’t waste his time and energy on the character of the lamb or its innocence and gentleness, but rather its death. And that is why the name Jesus Christ is so offensive to so many people.
John makes a clear connection between Jesus and the ancient sacrificial system introduced in Old Testament times.
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all the sacrifices. And probably the most remarkable thing about the Lamb of God was that He went to His death voluntarily. He did this because He understood the necessity of giving His life.
John understood it too. He had to have understood it, because had he not, he would not have been able to write the most well-known verse in the entire Bible: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
This Lamb takes away the sin of the world.
What does that really mean though? Ask any Sunday School child why Jesus died, and their answer is usually “to take away our sins.” That answer scores 100% in a theology exam, but do we really understand the deep truth of those words?
Some say that Jesus came to earth to heal, and they emphasise His healing ministry. He healed the blind, the crippled, the diseased. He even raised the dead. He did all of those things and more, but Jesus’ main purpose for coming to this earth in human form was to save people from their sins, which is greater than any physical healing.
And the only way He could that was by dying for our sins. He lived to die.
Sin, the choice of evil instead of good, the perversion of the desires, the slavery of the will, the darkening of the mind, the deadly sickness of the heart and all of the other horrors caused by sin, is the source and fountain of all the heartache in the world. Sin is the cause of all disorder and wretchedness. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, “What is the matter with the world? Why war and all the unhappiness and turmoil and discord amongst men? There is only one answer to these questions - sin. Nothing else. Just sin.”
Cut away through all the clutter, the circumstances and all the peripheral issues in your life, and you will come to the same conclusion every time. The root cause is sin. It might be your own personal sin, or the sin of another, but you will always come to the same answer: Sin.
This is the curse that destroys us, and it is the one thing keeping us from God.
Of course there are times when life is good, and we really are able to appreciate the beauty of our world and the love of people, but it doesn’t last. And the reason it doesn’t last is sin.
This is the obstacle that separates the soul in darkness and sorrow from God.
satan has fooled the world into thinking that everything is absolutely fine, but the awful truth is that we are in a deeply desperate situation. Sin has separated us from the very source of life, from the God who created us.
That’s the mess we are in.
And that is why we are able to rejoice at the sound of John the Baptist’s words: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
We don’t really use the word behold much in our day. To behold is to do more than just point your eyes in a particular direction. To behold is to look and see, and to contemplate in your heart just who or what you are beholding. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as to “see or observe someone or something, especially of remarkable or impressive nature.”
As we come to an understanding of the depth of our sin, and as the wonder of the Gospel of Jesus Christ begins to make sense, we are then able to understand what John the Baptist meant when he said that the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. The simplest meaning of the words ‘takes away’ is ‘to lift.’
How do you feel when something you’ve been battling or struggling with is finally dealt with? People often say that they feel a burden has been lifted from their shoulders.
This is precisely what the apostle John meant when he quoted the words of John the Baptist - Jesus ‘takes away’ our sins.
We are unable to free ourselves from the heavy burden of sin, but when we turn to God in repentance, accepting and identifying with the death of Jesus on our behalf, we feel this awful burden lifted from our heart and conscience by the redeeming hand of God.
One of the first steps to salvation is recognising our need and the condemnation we are under because of our sin.
We simply have to reach the point where we realise that we cannot within ourselves overcome sin and lift that burden, but that through Christ we are able to give those burdens to Him.
Jesus ‘takes away’ our burdens, and in doing so, the weight of the sin in our lives is lifted up from our shoulders, and placed on the shoulders of Christ, the Lamb of God.
Another meaning of taking away is “to bear.” Joseph Scriven wrote the hymn which begins ‘What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.’
Jesus quite literally lifts the sin from us and places it on Himself. This is what we mean when we speak of the substitutionary death of Christ. He died in our place.
One of the most quoted Old Testament passages at this time of year is Isaiah chapter 53. Verse 6 ends with these words: “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Saviour of the world lifts the sin of the world, He bears the sin of the world, and He bears away the sin of the world.
This is why Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Your sin, the heavy burdens that come with it, and the subsequent condemnation of your sin has been taken away by the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Not because He is meek and mild. Not because He is a great moral teacher. Your sin has been dealt with and taken away because Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, died for you.
This is what salvation from God is all about.
It is completed by Him, and it is completed in Him.
He died for you. Do you believe this? Will you accept this truth? Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and will take your sin away if you would only ask Him to.
John 1:35-42 records the events the day after John the Baptist first proclaimed Jesus as the Lamb of God. Verses 35 to 38: “The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking?’” In the NIV translation Jesus asks, “What do you want?”
Suppose Jesus were to ask you that today. What would your answer be?
Who is Jesus to you, and what do you want from Him?
Far too many people will tolerate Him as nothing more than a plastic doll in a manger scene for two weeks each year, and want nothing more to do with Him. If this is all you want from Jesus, then you will continue to be burdened by your sin and the condemnation it brings.
Those two men whom Jesus asked, “What do you want,” answered, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus’ reply to them was of huge significance: “Come and you will see.”
In other words, come and behold. Jesus invites each of us to come and see, to explore, investigate, and draw our own conclusions.
He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and the sin of your heart.
At the centre of the drama of redemption is a Lamb, prepared to be offered, dying so that others will live, bearing away the sins of a people whom God has chosen to save. As Isaiah 53:6 tells us, we are all like sheep going astray, yet the one sheep, the Lamb, which never went astray, God is going to make into a sacrifice. And He will do this in order that the lost sheep would be found, forgiven and restored. The Lamb of God was treated as if He had never been holy, so that the lost sheep He came to save were treated as if they had never sinned.
The Biblical image of Jesus the Lamb of God is not just an illustration borrowed from agriculture in order to make it easier for us to understand. The Lamb of God brings us to the very essence and heart of the Gospel, where the God-man is held accountable for the law-breaking of sinners, dies as their substitute, and provides a way of salvation through His own blood. That is the Gospel presented to us in Scripture - the good news of the Saviour of the world, dying on a cross for the salvation of sinners. God has provided for Himself a Lamb for the offering.
The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
Paul emphasised the extreme importance of the cross to Christianity. The doctrine of the atonement is central to all Christian theology. The reformer Martin Luther called Christianity a theology of the cross. The figure of a cross is the universal symbol of Christianity. The concept of atonement reaches back to the Old Testament where God set up a system by which the people of Israel could make atonement for their sins. To atone is to make amends, to set things right. We need an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Nothing else will suffice.
We need to be very careful of underestimating the importance of the Cross of Christ. This is not something to focus on only in the weeks before Easter. Rather, it is to be central in the teaching of the Church. Unfortunately, in some quarters all you hear are messages about self-improvement. When you fail, you get up, brush yourself off and try again. God loves you no matter what. But that’s only half of the story. God loves you enough to send His Son to die for you. Jesus bore the wrath and fury of God at your sins, in order to reconcile you to Himself. Without the death of Christ on your behalf, you have no hope, and this is what the world needs to hear.
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Both the Old and New Testaments make it clear that we are sinners. As our sins are against an infinite, holy God, so atonement or restoration is necessary in order for us to have the fellowship with God He created us for.
Because sin pollutes even our best deeds, we are incapable of making a sufficient sacrifice. Even our sacrifices are tainted and would require a further sacrifice to cover that blemish. This is what the unending sacrifices of the Old Testament shows.
We have no gift valuable enough, no work righteous enough to atone for our own sins. We are debtors who cannot pay our debts.
But, as Jesus bore the wrath of God the Father on the cross, He was able to make atonement for His people. Jesus Christ carried, or bore, the punishment for your sins, and He atoned for them by accepting the just punishment due for those sins, and as you accept that truth by faith, you are saved and your sins are removed. They are lifted up and carried away for all of eternity.
The doctrine of the atonement is about substitution and satisfaction. In taking God’s curse on Himself, Jesus satisfied the demands of God’s holy justice. He received God’s wrath for us, on our behalf, saving us from the wrath that is to come.
Jesus did not die for Himself, but for us. He was our substitute. He took our place in fulfilling the role of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Homegroup Study Notes
Read Genesis 22:1-8
Our first reaction when reading this account is one of horror.
It is difficult for us to see how God would ask Abraham to do such a thing, but the underlying spiritual message is of greater importance.
What is the spiritual message in Genesis 22?
In which ways do you see the Gospel of Jesus here?
Read John 1:29
There is no doubt that Jesus was a wonderful teacher. For 2000 years no human being has been able to improve on the many moral lessons He taught, but as Christians we believe that the most important reason for His life was His death.
What is your understanding of the doctrine of substitutionary atonement?
Other religions believe that at the end of our lives the most important question will be whether our good deeds outweigh the bad things we have done. How does Christianity differ from this belief?
In which ways have you felt the burden of your sin being lifted from your shoulders and carried away by Jesus?