John 1:29-34
July 15 2007
The Lamb of God
During feudal times royal families would have what were called ‘whipping boys’. A whipping boy was a boy of the same age but not the same class in society as the prince or nobleman. For when a child was of high enough class he was too important to be beaten by anyone other than his father. Fathers of noble families were frequently unavailable in the raising of their children so something had to be done to punish the misbehaved child. Thus the concept of the whipping boy was developed. The whipping boy would be a playmate to the young nobleman they would grow up together, and likely be close friends. When the nobleman acted out of turn or slacked in his studies the whipping boy would be beaten in place of the young nobleman. This was a form of psychological ‘indirect punishment’. The whipping boy would serve as a sort of scapegoat for the young prince or nobleman. When the noble boy did wrong the whipping boy was punished in his place. Now what I want you to do is put this picture of the whipping boy in your pocket we are going to come back to it.
Last week we talked briefly about the beautiful imagery that John writes with. This week we will see a great example of that Imagery. If you would turn in your Bibles to John 1:29 that is the text we will be looking at today. 40 days before our text John that is John the Baptists not John the disciple, baptizes Jesus. The day before this text John has stated that someone would come after him who would be the Christ. Let’s begin:
Jn 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! Jn 1:30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ Jn 1:31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” Jn 1:32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. Jn 1:33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Jn 1:34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
The lamb of God is rich with meaning. This is a beautiful picture John and John alone will paint throughout his writing. No other New Testament author will use the phrase ‘the lamb of God’. Now with some study of the Old Testament you may associate the idea of a lamb of God with the lambs of the Old Testament…1st century Jews certainly would have. The first time we see this image of the lamb is in Genesis 22:7-8 when Isaac asks Abraham where is the lamb for the sacrifice and Abraham responds “God will provide.” And God did provide. Abraham was suppose to go sacrifice his son and God provided a lamb to take the place of Abraham’s son. Now it is important to note that John is the only writer in the New Testament to give Jesus the title ‘Lamb’. Paul and Peter will mention him as a lamb but John is unique in giving Jesus the title of lamb. This picture of the ‘lamb of God’ is full of Old Testament references. However, it can be difficult to know just what image of the ‘lamb’ John is trying to associate with.
Since the time of the Exodus lambs would have been a primary animal of sacrifice for the sins of the people of Israel. Two would be sacrificed each day, one in the morning and one at twilight as an offering to God. The lambs that were sacrificed were to be without blemish or defect. These lambs were sacrificed to cover over the sins of Israel. Throughout the Old Testament the blood of lambs served as an atonement for the sins of the people. While the blood of lambs does not have the power to take away sin, for a time their blood would cover the sin of man so that God would be able to dwell among them in the Tent of Meeting. They could not erase the sin because they were not a perfect atoning sacrifice. These lambs were killed for the sins of the people of Israel. They had done nothing wrong, they were helpless innocent sheep that were killed in place of men who were guilty of sin and deserved death. This sacrificial lamb may be what John means. John may be saying: Jesus is the lamb of God who will be sacrificed for the sins of the world. Though He is innocent of sin He will be put to death for the sins of the world so that we may be forgiven. Now if these are the words of John the Baptist they are very insightful. However, this could be a picture thrown in from John the apostle to allude to things to come as well.
John may have had something else in mind. He may have used the lamb to refer to the sin offering of Leviticus 4 or the trespass offering of Leviticus 5. He may have been thinking of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement from Leviticus 12.
The most noticeable and significant image of the lamb is that of the Passover lamb. Paul will refer to Christ as the Passover lamb in 1 Corinthians:
1Co 5:7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Here is the picture that John is painting. By associating Jesus or rather titling Him the ‘lamb of God’ John has made a natural connection to the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb came out of the Egyptian captivity. It would be something the Jews would celebrate or remember by way of a tradition every year. During the Hebrews captivity in Egypt God sent Moses to free the people. After 9 plagues and the pharaoh changing his mind time and time again God sent the angel of the Lord to kill the first born of every household in Egypt. Since the Hebrews lived in Egypt God had them kill a lamb and put its blood over their door. When the angel of the Lord saw the blood of the lamb on the door it would pass over that house sparing the firstborn. So by the blood of the Passover lamb the people of God were saved. Are you starting to see the wonderful picture that John has painted for you?
John may have had one of these in mind specifically but that is impossible to tell. He likely had all of these in view which is why he does not specify more. John is associating Jesus with the lamb in many different ways because they are all true of Jesus. Jesus is the Passover lamb, he is the sacrificial lamb, he is the day of atonement, he is the trespass offering and the sin offering. Jesus captures all the Old Testament images of the lamb, and John means to pull in all of those pictures as a perspective as to what Jesus is doing.
So the question is: who is Jesus? He is the lamb provided by God Himself to be the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is the fulfillment of Genesis 22 and Isaiah 53:5-7
Isa 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isa 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isa 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Isa 53:12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Jesus is the lamb of God who take away the sins of the world. John makes a point to connect the Old Testament to the New Testament. The lambs that were slaughtered for the sins of the people were imperfect and could not take away our sins. It takes the sacrifice of the perfect lamb to remove our sins. Jesus is that perfect lamb. He is the ultimate sacrifice. To think of it logically: if a man was to die for his sins, one man dies one death. A finite being comes to its end. So the sacrifice of a finite being goes only as far as its life could take it. But the sacrifice of something that is infinite would be a sacrifice that could cover all sins for all time. That is why Jesus came. As an infinite being His sacrifice could cover the sins of all man, and through Him all men might be saved. So Jesus died for the sins that he never committed, so that we could be saved from the sins that we have committed. By His blood…the blood of the lamb we can be saved.
Here is an interesting and beautiful picture that John will paint later with this. The last supper is during Passover. As John records it, the Last supper was on Thursday of Passion week. Friday would be the official start of Passover when the Passover lambs would have traditionally been sacrificed. Jesus was crucified maybe even during the very hour that the lambs were slaughtered for Passover. Thus Jesus became the perfect Passover lamb able to remove our sins from us once and for all.
Now if you remember the story about the whipping boy, if you would go ahead and get that out of your pocket. In the medieval culture a whipping boy was a lower class child set up to take the punishment for a child of ‘more importance’ or a higher class. My mother pointed out to me that the great irony of Jesus is that He took the punishment for our wrongs even though He was the king and we were the commoners. Even though He is God and we are His creation Jesus took the punishment for our actions and our misbehavior. Jesus is a sort of anti-whipping boy. For that which was greater took the punishment for that which was lesser. Can you imagine the amount of love that would take?
So John has painted us a beautiful picture of Jesus as the lamb of God. A lamb that was slain, but arose victoriously. Jesus though we was God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, so He took on the nature of servant, became a man, and submitted Himself to death…out of love for you.
Now if I can get devotional on you for just a moment: You may look at your life and see a long history of mistakes. You may resent and hate yourself for the wrongs that you have done. You may look in the mirror and be ashamed of what you see. For when you look at yourself all you see is your mistakes, your sins, your failures. You may look and think that what you see is ugly. But that is not what God sees. When God looks at you He sees NONE OF THAT. He sees a pure, spotless child of His washed clean by the blood of His son. God no longer sees your sins, He sees the blood that was offered on your behalf.
All of these things in your life that hold you back, that keep you from moving forward…the guilt…the shame…these are not from God. When God sees you He sees the beauty of a child without sin, without blemish or fault. God loves you. And when He looks at you He loves what He sees. So do not allow the wrongs of your past to hold you down. Do not let the sins and the transgressions of your life keep you from moving on. You are not who you were. It is time you learned to forgive…not just others…but yourself.
The wrongs you have done have been paid for…they have been taken care of. So do not allow the devil to hold you back with guilt and shame at your imperfections. But do not let him tempt you into sin, for you know the price that it took to forgive that sin. The price was Jesus death on a cross.
What I want you to understand from all of this is that one of the key characteristics of Jesus is that He is the lamb of God. Through His sacrifice we are made holy, and blameless in the sight of God. God loved us so much that He sent His son innocent of sin as He was to die on the cross for our sins, for our crimes. That is what love looks like. Love does not look like a bunch of big hearts and soft teddy bears and chocolates as we might associate it with on valentines day and things of the like. Love is not always pretty…in fact it rarely is. Love is built on sacrifice and service. It requires getting your hands dirty, so maybe its time you rolled up your sleeves.
You have a choice: How will you respond to the love of God. Who displayed his love for you by sending His son to die on a cross, to become our Passover lamb.
