Scripture: John 1:29-36
Theme: Lamb of God
What does John mean by calling Jesus – THE LAMB OF GOD?
INTRO:
Grace and peace this morning in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
I hope everyone is enjoying this New Year!
And I hope everyone is enjoying reading the Bible this New Year.
I think we all have favorite parts of the Bible. We have those books and stories that speak to us in very special ways.
When I was studying for the ministry, it was at a time in the Church when the focus was centered for the most part on the writings of the Apostle Paul.
Now, we didn’t forget about the Old Testament or the other books in the New Testament, it just seemed that at that point in the Church’s history, the focus all over the world was lasered in on the Apostle Paul’s writings.
I think part of it was because the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) didn’t quite fit the intellectual and philosophical viewpoints of the day. Most people could handle the Apostle Paul. They may not fully understand what he was writing about all the time, but they could at least get a handle on him.
However, the Gospels presented most scholars at the time a bit of a problem. They live and breathe in the supernatural. They deal with such things as a Virgin Birth, a Coming Messiah, the Wilderness trials involving the Devil and miracle stories about healing lepers, feeding thousands and raising people from the dead. They deal with this central figure - Jesus of Nazareth - who is proclaimed as the Messiah, the Anointed One, the very Son of God and as we have in our passage this morning – THE LAMB OF GOD.
I can’t remember when it exactly happened but one day as I was studying the Bible and of course being led to really dig into the Apostle Paul’s writings, I began to feel that I was missing out on the most important parts of the Bible. It wasn’t that I was neglecting the Gospels and the Book of Acts it was just that they were not front and center.
Then the thought hit me – I believed at the time and still do that it was the leading of the Holy Spirit. Paul didn’t die for me. Paul was not sent as the Son of God. Paul was a great person, a great teacher, a man who had been redeemed by God and filled with His Holy Spirit. But when all is said and done, as wonderful and intelligent and spiritually close as Paul was to God, He was still not God’s Only Son. Paul was not Jesus.
I had already had that conversation with myself when it came to those like Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Joshua, King David, and Daniel. All of those and others like Ruth, Hannah and Abagail were wonderful people to read about and study. But none of them went to the Cross for man’s redemption.
I decided that I would spend most of my time from that point on to study Jesus. To read and reread the Gospels. To pour my heart and life into understanding Jesus, His Life, His Mission and His Purpose.
Now, that is not to say that I propose anyone should neglect the Old Testament or the wonderful writings of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle James or any of the other New Testament writings. It is just in my case, I wanted to study and learn about the One who was Born King of the Jews, the Messiah, Savior, and Lord of all Creation.
This morning, our passage is from the Gospel of John.
It happens sometime after Jesus’ Baptism and Wilderness Trials. John and Jesus have kept in contact with one another and are spending some time together.
This morning let’s see what this passage can share with us – especially what it can share about Jesus being called the LAMB OF GOD.
I. It’s Important to notice that it is John who is the One Who Calls Jesus – the LAMB of GOD
If you remember during the season of Advent, we looked at how Zacharias was told by the angel Gabriel that John was to hold two very great positions at the same time –John would be both a Prophet and a Priest.
Heritage had declared that John was a priest. His father had been a priest. His grandfather, his great-grandfather all the way back to the time of Aaron had been priests. The priest hood was in John’s blood. It was a part of his DNA.
John was also called to be a prophet in the same vein as the Prophet Elijah. He was to be a mouthpiece for the Lord God Almighty. He was to be a vessel that God could use to speak to His people. He was to be in the line of such people as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah and Elisha.
As a priest, John would have been well acquainted with sheep; especially with one year old lambs.
Each day at 9 am and 3 pm it was the custom at the Temple for a lamb to be sacrificed to the LORD. A sacrifice to remove the barrier between the Lord God Almighty and His People. A sacrifice to be a substitute for man’s guilt and sinfulness.
As a prophet, John was well acquainted with the book of Isaiah. When we hear him speak in the Gospels you can tell that John understood the book of Isaiah. He was well versed in the prophecy of Isaiah 53:7 –
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before it’s shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”
That passage speaks of the Servant of God – a person that has been appointed by the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY to stand between God and man and be the Redeemer. A person who would give up their life so that God and man could be reconciled.
So, when we hear John say these words – Behold, the Lamb of God it was not just a few nice words to say about Jesus.
John was announcing to all who would listen in His Prophetic Role – This is the Suffering Servant that Isaiah wrote about. Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah.
John was announcing to all who would listen in His Priestly Role – This is the Passover Lamb. This is the Lamb who will be slain in our place. This is the lamb who is without spot or blemish. This is the lamb who is pure and holy.
But that is not all this passage shares with us:
II. It shares with us the Mission of Jesus
Jesus came to this earth for a reason. He was not here by accident or by fate. Jesus was here to accomplish a task – to make right a wrong – to bring God and man back together in a holy relationship.
Jesus came to take away the sin of the world.
It is here that John takes us all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Sin entered our world and when humankind allowed Satan to lie to us, to steal from us and to bring death into our world.
John reminds us that Jesus came not for just people sins but for sin in general. The book of Genesis reminds us that it wasn’t just humankind that fell and that was marred by sin.
Ancient rabbis have always reminded their readers of the book of Genesis that creation fell as well. That before Adam and Eve fully agreed to the lies of Satan that creation in the form of the serpent had already decided to listen to evil. That there was an potential alliance already at play when this serpent; this being that was just a little below humanity allowed Satan to use them.
The reality is as we read the story that the Fall was creation wide. Not just was Adam and Eve affected by the fall but all of creation was affected by the Fall – the birds, the trees, the animals, the oceans, and the fish. All of creation comes under the effect of sin.
John tells us that Jesus came not just to take away the sins of mankind; but all Sin – everything that had fallen. All of creation.
Jesus came to take away the whole barrier between God and man. Jesus came to defeat the Devil, to take away the power of sin and to bring Life; everlasting Life.
Jesus came to set us free:
+Free of Sin’s dominion and control over us.
+Free of all condemnation and shame.
+Free of everlasting death for as we read in Romans 6:23 – the wages of sin is death.
Sin changed all of humanity. It changed our world. It removed us from being in control of our world; control that God had given Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
“So, God created humankind in His own image, in the image of God, He created them; male and female He created them.”
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…”
That was God’s plan. Humankind was made in His Image with total control over creation. A creation that was pure and holy. A creation that was in tune with God and with Adam and Eve. A creation that could share life with each other. A creation that was in perfect harmony.
All that of that was ruined by the Fall. The Fall of Man and the Fall of Creation. No longer did man have dominion over creation. No longer was all of creation pure and holy. Under evil’s influence creation had turned upon itself. We see it being played out every day all over the world.
And because of that Jesus came to our Earth – Jesus came as a human being to redeem human beings. Jesus came to be the Messiah. Jesus came to be the Passover Lamb. Jesus came to give His life for all of creation.
Jesus came to bring us New Life.
Jesus came to break the Power of Sin, Hell, Death and the Grave.
This was (is) Jesus’ mission. This was (is) what John was proclaiming about Jesus.
This Jesus is God’s Son.
This Jesus is the Lamb of God.
Neither the Apostle John who wrote this down nor John the Baptist who said it leaves us any wiggle room. We cannot dismiss the supernatural events surrounding this proclamation nor can we dismiss what it means.
Both men are proclaiming to all who hear and read these words:
+Jesus is the Messiah – the Anointed One
+Jesus is the Son of God – the LAMB OF GOD
+Jesus came to take away Sin – to take away the Curse – to take away the effects of the Fall.
And all of this points to a something utterly amazing and breathtaking –
III. In Christ, We are Free to Transform our World
Sometimes we read the Gospels and the Book of Acts along with all the writings of the Apostle Paul and we merely rejoice in the reality that today we can be rescued, redeemed and filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
And we should rejoice in all of that. For if that is all that God has done for us then it would be more than enough.
But that is not all the story. For as we read the Gospels, the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament we see something more.
After the Passover Lamb was sacrificed and the ancient people of God were free of their slavery they were to go out and begin a new life and begin transforming their world. They were to go to the Promise Land and begin the process of making a space on earth that was to look like, feel like and be like Heaven.
Even though they had the Holy Spirit leading them and directing them we see on occasion after occasion their stumbling, failing and being unable to fulfill their God given mission.
That is what we read about in the Old Testament. They were doing their best before Calvary – before the Cross event – before Jesus.
But after Calvary, after the Resurrection everything changed.
+No longer was evil in control
+No longer could sin cast its condemnation and shame
+No longer was Death everlasting
This is why we have the Great Commission. This is why the Apostle John wrote so much about the Holy Spirit in His Gospel. This is why Luke was directed to give us Acts of the Apostles.
Today, empowered by the indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit we are directed to go and do what Adam and Eve where instructed to do and what God wanted Moses and His People to do – to transform our world.
If this sounds radical – it is.
If this sounds impossible – under our own power it is.
You and I and everyone else who follows Jesus Christ as Savior and LORD have been given a commission by the Lamb of God – to go forth and transform your home, where you work, where you shop and wherever you find yourself.
This is where we can really get into the Acts of the Apostles and see what Paul was doing in all his letters.
+They were spiritual terraforming the world around them
+They were being God’s spiritual agents in the world
Notice what happens
+In Acts people begin sharing with each other – Jews with Gentiles – the rich and the poor – the uneducated and the educated – they cross all kinds of physical, societal and financial boundaries in taking care of one another.
+In Acts people where no longer seeing each other as being different but being a part of one another – seeing each other as vital as hands are to feet and heads are to legs.
+In Paul’s writings, we see where whole communities were being transformed from following this pagan god/goddess to coming to believe in Jesus Christ. Whole communities were turning from sacrificing their newborn children on altars to a pagan deity to raising those children to become people who would love God and others. Whole communities were turning from witchcraft and the occult to living a life of holiness and purity. Whole communities were turning from stealing, lying, sexual immorality and godlessness to building neighborhoods where people were safe and secure.
None of this happened by accident. It happened by them allowing the Lamb of God, the Son of God to redeem them, to infill them with His Holy Spirit and by them going out and becoming the people they were design to become.
To change their world it took courage, it took sacrifice and it took being totally committed to the Lord God Almighty.
Today, many people do not believe that it is possible to transform our world. They believe that evil has too big a hold. That humanity is too far gone.
We must always remember who it is who promotes those types of lies – it is the Devil. Even though he has been defeated, he still is doing his best to lie, to steal and to kill.
Today, the Lamb of God is still here to rescue us, to redeem us and to infill us with His Holy Spirit.
Today, the Son of God is still proclaiming for us to go and win the world – our homes, our places of work, our schools, our communities for Christ.
We do that the same way we see in the Gospel of John, the Book of Acts and in the rest of the New Testament – we live out a life pleasing to God and we share God’s message person to person.
Jesus to the Woman at the Well. Jesus to Nicodemus. Jesus to Nathaniel. Jesus to Mary Magdalene. Jesus to Zacchaeus.
Philip to the Ethiopian Eunuch. John and Peter to the lame man at the Temple. Ananias to Saul who becomes Paul. Paul to Timothy. Paul to Apollos. Paul to all those who are mentioned in Romans chapter 16 – each one having been touched by Paul for Jesus.
This morning – Jesus is the Lamb of God.
This morning – Jesus has accomplished what He was supposed to do
+Satan and Evil are defeated
+The Power of Sin has been broken
+This is the Day of Salvation
+This is the Day of the Holy Spirit
The question we must ask and deal with – are we doing out best to write a new book of the Acts of God?
Are we doing what we can person to person to share Jesus with our words and our actions?
I believe that we are – and I believe that we will do even more as we allow God’s Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us. I believe that we are change agents and that God is working through us to transform lives and share the message of salvation. I believe that a bright future is ahead for us to do even more than we have done in the past.
+Will it take courage – yes
+Will it take sacrifice – yes
+Will it take us being committed – yes
Invitation/Holy Communion
