Behold the Lamb of God

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

John 1:29

The first and most important lamb to the Jews of Jesus day was the Paschal lamb, the lamb sacrificed at the first Passover on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt, the most momentous event in Jewish history.¹

According to the story told in Exodus 12, the Jews marked their doorposts with the blood of the lamb, and this sign spared them from destruction. From this time on the sacrificial lamb played a critical role in the history of the nation of Israel.

The sacrificial lamb in Jewish worship is critical because it takes away the sin of the people, “…and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (Leviticus 17:11 NIV)

The Apostle Paul refers to Jesus as the Passover Lamb, “…for Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians 5:7 NIV) and lets us know that “…without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22)

John the Baptist, proclaiming Jesus as the Lamb of God that day, set in motion two changes in the sacrificial ordinances: (1) Christ’s death on the cross would put an end to the Jewish system of sacrifice for good because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice that didn’t need to be repeated every year and (2) the sacrifice that Jesus made wasn’t only for the Jews but was the atonement made for the sin of the entire world:

• It is the good news bringing great joy for all people (Luke 2:10)
• Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2)
• God will have all the human race saved (1 Timothy 2:4)
• Christ paid a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:6)
• God is the savior of all people (1 Timothy 4:10)
• God is reconciling the world unto Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19)
• For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive… (1 Corinthians 15:22)
• Clearly, through one person’s disobedience humanity became sinful, and through one person’s obedience humanity will receive God’s approval. (Romans 5:19 GW)

There are no caveats, parenthetical remarks, or footnotes of explanation to these passages that would show us that they teach anything less than what is apparent; that the sin of the whole world has been blotted out by the blood of Christ. No exceptions! It is our sin that would be our ruin, however, it is blotted out and nailed to the cross.

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; (Colossians 2:14 KJV)

Paul wrote the above to a Gentile church.

¹Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Paschal lamb”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Sep. 2013, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Paschal-lamb Accessed 4 July 2023.