"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
I am a city kid. The only animals I was ever around were on TV, so I had to check. And sure enough, a lamb is a baby sheep. I was feeling a little sheepish (-B.
I should have known. So what does any of this have to do with John?
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 Israel." John 1:29-31
That incident occurred the very next day after this.
Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Messiah."
They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not."
"Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No."
Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'"
Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"
John 1:19-25
The Pharisees are all over John the Baptist. They are looking for a reason to arrest him. So you can bet they are there, an arm's length from the Baptist, as Jesus approaches. While you and I may not have felt the impact of the following words, the Pharisees definitely did.
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
Since the very beginning, in the Garden, the Jews were awaiting a Messiah.
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Genesis 3:15
The one crushing Satan's head was the promised Savior, and when Jesus arrived, the Jews had been waiting for 4000 years. The mention of the Lamb immediately got everyone's attention.
John used the image of the sacrificial lamb, represented many times in the Old Testament. Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of every time that image is displayed.
- He is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
- The animal slain in the Garden of Eden to cover the nakedness of the first sinners is representative of Him.
- He is the ram God would Himself provide for Abraham as a substitute for Isaac.
- He is the Passover lamb for Israel.
- He is the lamb for the guilt offering in the Levitical sacrifices.
- He is Isaiah's lamb to the slaughter, ready to be shorn.
- Each of these lambs fulfilled their role in their death; they were an announcement that Jesus would die as a sacrifice for the sin of the world.
And let me add one more really cool thing I didn't previously know. Every single day, the priests sacrificed two lambs, one in the morning, and one in the evening, for the forgiveness of sins. It happens that Jesus' crucifixion occurred exactly at the same time the lamb was being sacrificed in the Temple. He was literally the Lamb of God.
So why did I start with the passage from Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you"?
That promise is for all of us, and applies to you and I, not just to Jews. If God makes a promise, He keeps it. For 4000 years, God again and again reminded the Jews that a savior was coming.
When the craziness that is our current world seems overwhelming, remember that God keeps His promises. As Paul often reminded us. Stand Firm!! God's got this!!
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
by Bruce Hanson
