Behold the Lamb of God
John 1:29
Clarence E. Mathews Sr.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold! The Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world!
For many centuries the people of Israel had been longing and looking for the promised Messiah who was to redeem them from the inevitable consequences of sin.
There appeared on the scene a man, chosen and endowed by God, to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, and he was to do this by gathering about himself a group of people who by disposition would be prepared to become followers of and coworkers with the Messiah.
The piety of this man, John the Baptist, was so eminent that many people took him to be the Messiah. Again and again they came and asked him if he was the Promised One, the one about whom the prophets had spoken. He introduced himself simply as a voice crying in the wilderness.”Prepare the way for the coming of the Lord”. He challenged people to turn away from the love of evil and turn to the way of personal faith and righteousness. Those who heeder his message were thus prepared to for the appearance of the Messiah.
Our lord Jesus Christ, after living the first thirty years of his life in the city of Nazareth went to John for baptism. Immediately following his baptism, he was led by the spirit of God into the wilderness to be tested and to be tempted by the Evil One. After our Savior overcame these temptations and demonstrated his superiority over the power of Satan, we find him coming to John the Baptist again. When John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching, he said to disciples who were gathered around him “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Agape
Orginally printed in the bulletin on March 9, 2008