John 1:29 The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. I. Christ excels in the NATURE OF THE VICTIM. 1. The faultlessness of the Saviour. According to Judaism the lamb of sacrifice must be a year old, and without a blemish. Thus Jesus went through the four seasons — the spring, summer, autumn, winter of existence, without receiving or inflicting injury. Without blemish in the inward life, without spot in the outward character. Many are without spot to men, but are conscious of being full of spots unto God. Jesus was without spot to God. 2. His Divine appointment. According to Judaism, the lamb of sacrifice was separated from the flock days before it was slain. And Jesus was marked out from the foundation of the world. (1) This verse teaches us that a Lamb slain is the central idea of creation and that in this light the universe was planned. The idea of sacrifice is the scarlet thread that stretches from eternity to eternity. God sprinkled the door posts of creation with blood when He framed them. (2) The Lamb slain is also the centre of the Divine nature. Sacrifice is the deepest principle of God Himself. Christ was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world. In eternity the Father anointed the Son to be a priest and a sacrifice with the consecrating oil of the Holy Ghost. The Gospel does not create this principle, it only reveals it. God purchased His Church with His own blood. 3. His Divine nature. The Lamb of God is partaker of the nature of God. According to Judaism, the sacrificial lamb was to be brought up on the farm of the offerer: for this reason that it must cost some thought and pains, and consequently be something united to him by a tie of affection. And Jesus was a Lamb which God reared upon His own farm. "I was by Him as one brought up with Him"; according to the Chaldee paraphrase. "I was nursed at His side." But He was not only "of God." He was God. This it was that imparted efficacy to His sufferings. II. It excels in THE EFFICACY OF THE WORK. The Jewish sacrifices brought sin to remembrance; Christ's sacrifice took it away. 1. Look at Christ as bearing the sin of the world. But to bear it He must go under it. In the Old Testament to forgive means literally to carry. "Who is a God like unto Thee that pardoneth (lit. beareth) iniquity?" Other Gods pardoned. Jehovah carried sin; under the Old Testament in respect of covenant, under the New through Incarnation and imputation. 2. Christ bore sin away. "Christ hath wholly purchased us from the curse of the law" (Welsh translation). How? By fully paying. 3. Christ bore it away once for ever. The Jewish sacrifices had to be repeated; but Christ cancelled it once for all. III. It excels in the AREA OF ITS INFLUENCE. The Jewish sacrifices availed for one nation only. Christ's sacrifice is intended for the benefit of the world. 1. Sin, not sins; sin in its root, its deepest, bitterest nature. 2. The sin of the world. When the Great Western Railway was first made in South Wales, it was constructed on the broad-gauge principle; but the directors years afterwards judged it expedient to convert it from the broad gauge into the narrow gauge. In the history of the way of salvation, however, the contrary process was observed, — the narrow gauge under the Old Testament, and the broad gauge under the New. 3. All the sin of all the world. According to Judaism, a sacrifice was not left for all sins, such as adultery, murder, Sabbath desecration — sins committed with a high hand. Whoever was found guilty of these was to be "cut off from among his people." But the sacrifice of Christ covers all, not a single sin excepted. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. |
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