The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the
one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he
was before me.' I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with
water was that he might be revealed to
Have you ever read the story of the Fall into sin and said to yourself, “how could they not have
recognized that Satan was speaking through the snake? Snakes don’t usually speak.” It seems so obvious to us. Yet even before Adam and Eve had fallen Satan somehow managed to hide himself so very well
within the body of that serpent that they didn’t even recognize him for the
threat that he was.
In reality, this shouldn’t surprise us
at all. God’s Word has a profound verse
in it that says in Hebrews 13:2, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have
entertained angels without knowing it.”
How could it be that we entertain angels without recognizing it? God’s Word says that His creation “pours
forth speech” - testifying to the Creator.
How could it be that people who live and move and have their being due
to the power of God working through them; how could it be that they don’t even
recognize a Creator? Jacob wrestled
with a “man” who ended up being God Himself.
Manoah talked with the angel of the LORD -
again - having no clue as to who He was.
When God’s word says that the god of this age - that is, the devil - has
blinded the minds of people born into this sinful world - it shows how he can
work a complete blindness so they can’t see things that are obvious in the
heavenly realms.
Isn’t this also amazing when you think
about the whole concept of Jesus walking and talking among humans? You and I can look back on the situation and
say to ourselves, “if
I lived in Jesus time I would have known immediately who He was.” Yet we need to remember that God often times
reveals Himself to man in the most hidden and inglorious manner. Think of the mere water on Gideon’s fleece
back in the Old Testament story. Gideon
requested that as a sign of victory God would have the sheep fur on the ground
be dry while the rest of the ground was wet, and then vice versa. Anybody walking by the fleece would see it as
nothing more than dry or wet fleece, yet Gideon saw it as a sign of God’s
presence and victory. This is how God
likes to reveal His grace and mercy - through simple and hidden things. The world looks at a man dying on a cross and
says, “the poor sap got blamed for something he didn’t
do. Poor guy.” But we look at this man dying and see the
salvation of the world hidden under His words and God’s promise of His blood
being shed. Even though it seems obvious
to us now, it wouldn’t without God’s revelation. In the same way John wouldn’t have seen the
Christ, and neither would we without the power and revelation of the Holy
Spirit.
Where is the
Christ? He is Where the Spirit Is
I. The Spirit reveals the Christ through baptism
Even though John had faith from his
mother’s womb and recognized the mother of Christ before he could see; thirty
years later - with fully visioned eyes he still
didn’t have confirmation as to whether Jesus really was the fulfillment of this
promise. He was bound and limited to the
revelation of the Holy Spirit. Listen to
how this revelation took place.
“I myself
did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might
be revealed to
The
Holy Spirit chose baptism as the tool by which He would reveal Christ to John
and to the world.
First of all, the Holy Spirit
commissioned John to go and baptize so that the Christ would be revealed to
But who would this Anointed One - this
“Christ” be?
John had been baptizing hundreds of people up to this point. With a patient heart he waited and waited for
the sign which the Holy Spirit had given him.
Then it happened. Jesus came, and
as He was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit
landed on Him in the form of a dove.
Imagine the majesty of the moment - hearing the voice come from heaven -
and watching this beautiful dove slowly floating down from heaven and landing
on Jesus. Here was the fulfilment of all of John’s baptisms - the focus and reason
why he was sent to baptize - as Jesus was clearly revealed to the world.
Indeed, Christ needs to be the focus
of every baptism of all time. Baptism is
not about the Christian testifying about who he is - as if he is supposed to go
running in front of everyone and say, “hey everyone
look at me! I’m really sorry for my sins
this time. I’m really going to become a
Christian now! I’m really going to
commit myself to Christ this time as I get submersed in this water!” What a sad state of affairs this is, which
brings into very question the validity of this God given act in the hearts of
thousands of Christians. Why do they
doubt it? Because the focus of their
baptism is on themselves and what they are doing! This is completely backwards!
John didn’t baptize people for them to
identify themselves to the world. He did it to identify Christ to the baptized
- to show them who Christ was. Paul
said it well, “all of you who were
baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gal. 3:27) Baptism is meant to actually
cover the self with Christ’s clothing and wash the sinner away under a flood of
blood. If the sinner is saying anything
in baptism, “it is not, ‘look at me - I’m a Christian!’” Instead it would be,
“I’m nothing but a sinner. Don’t look at
me. Look at Christ! He is what this whole baptism and salvation
thing revolves around!” Every sinner
from conception to death needs to be connected to Him, covered in Him, and
clothed in Him. This is what God’s Word
promises baptism to do as it always is connected to Christ. 1 Peter 3:21‑22 says, “(The waters of
the flood) symbolizes baptism that now
saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good
conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who
has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and
powers in submission to him. Listen
again at how John’s and the Holy Spirit’s baptism focuses solely on the
Christ. “the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to
II. The Spirit
testified who the Christ was
What is so important about
Christ? Why must He be the focus and
center of baptism? Is He really that
central of a figure to our religion?
This might seem like a trite and foolish question to a tried and true
Christian, but in our religious society it is anything but trivial. In a George Barna
poll, more than seventy percent of 'professing evangelical Christians' in
When Jesus finally revealed Himself to
John as He came to be baptized, John had some magnificent things to say about
Him and some awful things to say about us.
What was the first thing he said?
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world! Before we look
at Jesus, look at what John says about the world - it is full of sin which
needs to be taken away. In other words,
this sin which has infiltrated our world is not something which we can take
away. It is not as easy as taking a
winter coat off. It is so heavy and so
thick and so all encompassing that it needs someone to come from outside of
this world to take it away. The word
John uses for sin is “amartia” - a general word for
sin which means to “miss the mark.” Some
people don’t really even regard this as a sin that needs taking away. They say, “hey, I
tried my best. Just fell a little
short. The big guy upstairs will
understand. We all sin. It’s just a part of being human.” John says, “NO! This sin needs to be lifted up from the world
and taken away.” If it is not lifted
from you, you will burn in hell eternally.
God cannot stand sin - any sin - even “amartia”. It all needs to be lifted.
So what did God send to take care of
this sin? An angel? A lion? A powerful bear or
Tyrannosaurus Rex? No. He sends a Lamb! There were five animals which were brought to
the altar, three that walk and two that fly; a bull, sheep, goat, dove and
pigeon. It seems to be worth asking why
John calls the Savior a lamb and not any of these other creatures, and why he
used the term "lamb" in regards to the sheep. We find the lamb offered in the continual
(daily) sacrifice. It is in keeping with
Exodus 29:38‑43,
“This is
what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day: two lambs a year old.
Offer one in the morning and the other at twilight. . . . a
pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire. “For the generations to
come this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance to the Tent of
Meeting before the LORD. There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I
will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by my glory.
The young and vibrant lamb - as opposed to the
old and worn out sheep - was used as the sacrifice which would consecrate and
enable the Israelites to approach the holy God through the work of the
priests. It was done as a reminder of
sin and the need for a sacrifice to be made for their sins. The usage of the lamb was also to remind the
Israelites of the Passover lambs that were slaughtered and put over the
doorposts in preparation for the Exodus.
(Exodus 29:46) So when John
called Jesus “the Lamb of God,” he was calling Jesus the fulfillment of all of
those lamb sacrifices; the sacrifice of the One that was full of life - that
would last day and night until eternity - which would in fact give the world
freedom from sin.
Isn’t it amazing how God would deal
with sin - through a seemingly harmless and innocent little Lamb. You know how it works. This Lamb of God would go to the cross and
there be blamed for the sins of the world.
Like a helpless little lamb He hung there and bled and died. Isaiah 53:6‑7 says it well,
We all, like sheep, have
gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his
mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
With
that seemingly weak and innocent sacrifice, God closed the mouth of the
dragon. With that sacrifice, God gave
the devil nothing to accuse us of. The
accuser’s mouth is shut and cast into hell through the simple sacrifice of a
little Lamb - a sacrifice that continues day and night until the end of
time. Hebrews
This sacrifice was so effective
because of who this Lamb was. John said, This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has
surpassed me because he was before me.' This Lamb actually existed before John, even
though He was born after John. He was
with God in the beginning - the Word of God - the One who created the world -
Life itself. He was and is the Son of
God. God lifted the sins off of the
world and put them on His Son’s back, crucified it, and buried it in the
grave. But when He raised the Lamb - He
left our sins and death and hell in the grave - testifying to the world that
this really was and is the Son of God - Eternal Life.
III. The Spirit tells us
to Look to Christ
John’s baptism and message says one
thing: “Behold him. Look at
Jesus and see Him in the way I describe Him.
He may not have fur or four legs.
He may not have fire coming out from His eyes or be commanding the winds
and the waves - bu this is the Lamb of God and the
Son of God all wrapped in one package.
He is the Christ.” Through
these heavenly inspired words and descriptions of John the Holy Spirit is
beckoning and calling to the sinner and telling him to look at Christ and see
Him for who He really is. If you only
see Jesus as a Lion but not as a Lamb - if you see Him only as a King and not
as a Son or a Savior - then you are not seeing Whom
you need to see. “Behold the Lamb of God”, John says.
“I have seen the Holy Spirit land
on Him. I know through His baptism that
He is the One. This seemingly normal guy
who has come walking to me - He is the Messiah.” When you look to Jesus God wants you to see
Him dying on a cross as the lamb of God. It is an ugly picture and a bloody
picture. Some say it is too ugly of a
picture - presenting too judgmental of a God.
They refuse to believe this is the only way to salvation. But without your eyes on the Lamb of God -
you cannot have the Lamb of God.
·
John 3:17‑18 God did not send his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned
already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Faith
is what puts the blood over the doorpost of the heart - which takes hold of
that which is won for you. It is seeing
Jesus to be the Lamb of God - the Son of God - the Savior - and hoping for
salvation in Him and Him alone. It means
seeing the Christ where the Holy Spirit tells us to find Him. It means believing that He is poured on us in
baptism. It means trusting that His body
and blood come to us under the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. It means looking at a crib and a cross and
saying, this is where my salvation lies - in this God who took on flesh 2,000
years ago.
There are many people who claim to be
Christian, but how do we know? They tell
us to look at their works and their behavior and their testimony - that we will
be convinced through these. The Mormon
tells us to know they are true by praying over the Book of Mormon and waiting
for the spirit to work by a burning in the bosom that we will feel through
prayer. The enthusiast and Pentecostal
will tell us that the spirit of Jesus is evident through the way they talk in
different languages and throw themselves around on the ground. This proves they are Christian. The evangelical will tell us that the spirit
is present through the music and the atmosphere that they produce in the
worship service. “Can’t you feel the
spirit here? Christ is truly present.”, they claim.
John the Baptist had a different
message. “If you want to find Christ, if
you want to be saved, if you want the Spirit, if you want to be
Christian - here’s a novel idea - behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world.” What a profoundly simply
and yet enlightening thing. The Holy
Spirit beckons to your heart today and shows you who Jesus is. He is your Lamb - the Son of God - your Savior. If you want to be Christian, have the Spirit,
be saved - simply look at Christ - and you get the whole package all in one
Person. Amen.