"The Lamb Of God"           

John 1:29

 

     John's message was brief, but emphatic. "No vehement appeal was made. No angry rebuke was given. No logical argument was presented. John simply pointed to the Savior and cried, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Nothing else was needed. To have said less would have been treason. To have said more would have been redundance.

     THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS THE LAMB OF GOD. He is not one lamb among many, but the Lamb. There is no other Lamb of God. Throughout the Mosaic age there were hundreds of thousands of lambs slain by the priests of Israel and offered to God in symbolic ceremonies. But those lambs could never take away sin (Heb. 10:1). They were typical lambs, Christ is the true Lamb. They were many. Christ is the one Lamb. They were lambs for God. Christ is the Lamb of God and the Lamb who is God! They were all insufficient to take away even one sin. But Christ is the Lamb of God, all-sufficient, who has effectually taken away all the sins of his people which were laid upon him by divine imputation (Heb. 9:26). Jesus Christ our Lord is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, promised to our fallen parents, portrayed in the Levitical sacrifices, prophecied in the Old Testament scriptures, sacrificed upon the cross, accepted in heaven, and exalted forever.

     THIS TITLE, "THE LAMB OF GOD," REFERS TO OUR SAVIOR'S VOLUNTARY, SUBSTITUTIONARY SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF FOR SINNERS. Christ is the Lamb appointed, given, slain, and accepted by God the Father. But let it never be overlooked that the Son of God became the Lamb of God by his own voluntary will, so that by his suffering and death we who deserve to die under the wrath of God might obtain eternal life. We were justly condemned to suffer the wrath of God forever because of our sin. And God almighty was honor bound to punish us for sin. But Christ stepped in to die in the place of sinners, to endure the wrath we deserved, to satisfy divine justice by his own blood, so that God might be both just and the justifier of all who believe on him (Rom. 3:24-26; Prov. 16:6). Mercy designed forgiveness for an innumerable multitude of sinners, each of whom were guilty of innumerable sins and deserving of infinite wrath. Wisdom found a way to obtain forgiveness by substitutionary redemption. And love gave Christ to be our Redeemer. "Behold the Lamb of God!"

 

Don Fortner