The lamb of God
Apr 21
John 1: 29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33I 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.’ 34I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
In the first verse of the passage above, John refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The term Lamb refers to that which is sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins. We know right from Abraham’s time that a lamb needed to be given as a sacrifice for sin. The lamb needed to be absolutely perfect in every way. John the Baptist sees Jesus coming towards him and immediately recognises him. He recognises him because as we see in verse 32 he has a sign from Father in heaven that whoever the Spirit comes down and rests upon is the promised one.
John has already established that Jesus has come from the father and that he was with the father from the beginning of time. He has come in order to take away the sin of the world. It was God’s plan that Jesus would die to save everybody. We know that in John 3:17 that God sent his son not to condemn the world but that everyone in the world should be saved by him. Even though John Waters living out a life whose purpose was to prepare the world for Jesus, he confesses that he himself did not know Jesus. He knew that he was going to come. But John tells us that the reason that he came baptising people with water was that he might reveal Jesus to Israel.
John says that he saw the holy spirit come down and rests on Jesus. John here speaks about two different baptisms, one which is the baptism of water and the other which is the baptism of the holy spirit. The baptism of water is a human thing and as we know from our teaching is a way of declaring publicly our faith in Jesus Christ. The baptism of the holy spirit on the other hand, is a God thing are and is given by grace through faith. The reason for the baptism of the holy spirit is so that we can be empowered to do the things that Jesus did.