Jesus, the Lamb of God

Tuesday, December 10, 2013     Jesus, the Lamb of God      

John 1: 29-34

In the previous passage, John the Baptist made clear to the religious leaders that his mission was to prepare the way for the Messiah. In today’s passage, he makes clear that Jesus is the Messiah. John explained that he had a vision from God that instructed him that “The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:32b). When John baptized Jesus he saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon Jesus.

John the Baptist also announced the mission of Jesus the Messiah which was much more far reaching than those looking for God’s Messiah expected. Simply put, Israel expected three things from the Messiah: save Israel from Roman occupation, purify the Temple so the presence of God would return and establish his righteous reign as the King. John said the Messiah’s mission was substantially more pervasive than that: “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). Jesus’ mission was not restricted to Israel’s oppression by the Roman army; Jesus came as God’s Passover Lamb for the entire world to end the oppression of sin. We will see as we read John’s Gospel that he is portraying the work of the Messiah as a new exodus. In the first exodus, God saved Israel from the oppression of Egypt’s Pharaoh. In the new exodus, God saves the entire world from the oppression of sin.

We will also see in this Gospel that the religious people in Israel had a hard time embracing the mission of Jesus the Messiah. However, the lost, the last and the least embraced it with joy.

They still do.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.