Lamb of God

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!    (John 1:29)

 

Lamb of God

 

The day that John the Baptist had longed for had finally arrived. He knew the Messiah was coming and that the evidence of His arrival would be “the appearance of the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him” (John 1: 33). So now instant jubilation is replacing John’s patient expectation as he gives his spontaneous tribute to Jesus—the Lamb of God! But underneath John’s jubilation is the knowledge of the peril that accompanies Jesus’ mission. He knew that the deep humiliation of death was required of the Lamb in order to “take away the sins of the world.”

 

Lambs have always played an important role as sacrificial animals in the public worship of Israel. But Jesus is not like one of the unblemished lambs offered twice daily in the Temple, or the lamb of the whole burnt offerings sacrificed along with a quart of wine as a libation (Numbers 15:5). These lambs were unable to truly take away sin. These sacrifices fell short of achieving true atonement, and were ceremonial at best. John makes it clear: Jesus is not like a sacrificial lamb; He is the Lamb of God. What human beings were unable to do through inadequate sacrifices in dealing with their sin, God did Himself by becoming the only effective offering for dealing with the human problem of worldwide sin!

 

But there is an even deeper humiliation than the humiliation of a public death. N.T. Wright notes, “The real humiliation of the incarnation and cross is that the one who was Himself God, and who never during the whole process ceased being God, could embrace such a vocation.” When the Lamb came to complete His mission, He emptied Himself so completely that He relinquished every divine prerogative. By laying His life down for us, He took love beyond love into the gracious realm of mercy. Through His humiliation, we are made fit for heaven.

—Frank Robinson