The Lamb of God - June 28, 2010

Good Monday morning! Looks like the summer dry pattern has begun; we are expecting temps in the low 90's and dry this week. That shouldn't surprise anyone, this time of the year is almost always exactly this way. The winter wheat harvest is coming soon, and that is the weather that starts it. John had a similar knowledge in his day. The Son of God was coming and John knew it. However, he still had to wait for the event to arrive. We can't speed up the harvest by jumping in a combine today. The wheat needs time to dry out in the hot weather. God's set times must come up in order and in his perfect timing. Some great days, a long expected message arrives.

Today in our verse, John gets to point and say, "There he is!" much as we will soon see the fleets of combines taking to the fields and bringing in the harvest.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1: 29

More than a thousand years of prophecy came to fruition right then. The Messiah had arrived among those standing by the river. Of all the names in scripture to choose though, why call him the Lamb of God? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to say the Almighty One is here? Or perhaps simply say that the Messiah is here? What John says about Jesus as the Lamb of God is very important to all of us, not just the Jews standing there with John.

The sacrificial system had for centuries demanded a spotless lamb to sacrifice each year for a family's sin. At last, God had provided a Lamb to take away the sin of the world. One Lamb to take away all sin. This was a monumental moment in time. The sacrifice at Passover had been going on since Moses' time. No doubt at least a few of the Jewish listeners would have wondered what John meant by this. No more annual sacrifices? Would Passover be cancelled the next year? A system that their fathers, grandfathers, and even the ancient kings had observed might be in jeopardy.

We all have run into similar problems in our lives. We cling to the old, and when someone announces the new, we balk and cluck and sweat and stammer in our fear. The person making the announcement feels that he has this great news, and when he announces the change, everyone stares in stunned silence. No doubt, "the Lamb of God" announcement by John brought a similar reaction. This was a stunning thing to say to the Jews under the Law.

What would you or I say to such an announcement? We might begin to doubt almost immediately. Certainly we might have a few questions. Some announcements are so startling that you can't think of anything to say. Seldom has an announcement rocked the world as this one did. From a system of laws that pointed out our every failure to a perfect sacrifice that would take away our sin. A perfect announcement of the arrival of the Messiah, I can't help but think. "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," to borrow a slightly different translation. Good news doesn't come much better than that!

So much changed in one little moment in time. Not only for John the Baptist and Jesus our Lord, but for all of us. There would be no hiding it now; John had announced the arrival of Messiah. Those gathered at the river that day would have run back to their cities and towns to tell the story. What a great story we have to tell.

Bucky